HP laptop built-in webcam disappeared between Xubuntu 16.04 and 18.04

[MR ZenWiz]

On Sun, Aug 2, 2020 at 1:22 PM MR ZenWiz <mrzenwiz at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Sun, Aug 2, 2020 at 6:43 AM Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> On Sun, 2 Aug 2020 at 00:49, MR ZenWiz <mrzenwiz at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >
> :
> > > I tried to run it in Wine, and it doesn't work to update the bios
> > > directly - too many errors.
> >
> > OMG, don't do that! :-o
> >
> > That sounds like an ideal way to brick it.
> >
> It wouldn't let me anyway - no access to the BIOS from Wine.
>
> > > I also can't seem to have it write a bootable flash drive - it can't
> > > mount the drives on the machine, and it doesn't seem to see a drive
> > > even if I run the built-in Wine Windows explorer - I can access the
> > > flash drive but not mount it for Wine/WE use.
> >
> > Use a VM.
> >
> Thank you, that worked - so far.  I'll report back when I have a
> chance to reboot it with the flash drive.
>

Semi-final results:

The flash drive the utility created failed to boot - invalid system
disk (the flash drive).

The drive, as created by the HP utility in my Win 10 VM, contains this:

$ ll -a /media/admar/7CEB-CF88/
total 3212
drwxr-xr-x  3 admar users    8192 Dec 31  1969  ./
drwxr-x---+ 4 root  root     4096 Aug  2 21:52  ../
-rw-r--r--  1 admar users 3145728 Nov  9  2015  68CAD.BIN
-rw-r--r--  1 admar users      54 Jul 11  2008  config.sys
-rwxr-xr-x  1 admar users   38193 Dec 12  2011  eRompaq.exe*
-rw-r--r--  1 admar users   18353 Aug 16  2002  gpl2.txt
-r--r--r--  1 admar users   45341 Dec  4  2009  KERNEL.SYS
drwxr-xr-x  2 admar users    8192 Aug  2 05:27 'System Volume Information'/

Apparently if I want to update the BIOS, I'll have to install Win 10
on my one spare 2.5" hard drive.

I tried using the two Windows drives I have, but I can't remember the
passwords for either one, and I'mm too tired to keep bashing awway at
it tonight, or anytime in the near future.

So I guess I'll have to put up with the webcam I have and the fun I
encounter when running Zoom - the mike cuts out for no apparent reason
without any warning, and the video occasionally freezes.  I can remedy
those, but they're both a pain.

<sigh> Thanks anyway.

More to come, when I can take the few hours out to install Win 10 on
the laptop - not going to happen terribly soon.

Mark