MacBook Pro Phantom Audio Problem - Audio decreases settings unchanged

I'm having a very strange issue with a MacBook Pro. Over the course of a presentation the audio output will slowly decrease until it is almost inaudible. I'm running the machine into a sounds system and I can turn up the MBP volume to compensate until I hit the max, but it continues to gradually reduce.
Could this be an overheating problem? The logic board on this machine was just replaced due to an issue where the optical out would not disengage so this is a brand new (less than a week old) logic board.
Any suggestions/solutions save having the board replaced again, or asking for a new machine?

I appreciate your response. I still have concerns:
The red-lite is off when my issue is happening.
The red-lite is on when my issue is happening.
It was not consistent. My concern is the Macintosh operating system not detecting the change. My other concern is it can _not_ be only a hardware switching issue, as Alsamixer, a software program, can make the switch toggle between off or on. If it was a hardware-only issue, Alsamixer would be a fail. And, if it is actually a hardware-only issue triggering a software 1 or 0 switch somewhere:
My final concern is 'where is this setting being stored' as clearning PRAM and reinstalling entire operating system after opertating system (Leopard to Lion and back to Leopard) after a disk wipe has no effect.
I guess it sounds to me, that OSX tries to be too user-friendly by not allowing peeps to change those options themselves. Is there a dscl command switch I can use to manually override such an effect? (Just in case I don't happen to have anything to stick into the mini-jack port)
Regardless, your answer is correct. Thank you both (Ciao and Allan Jones)
Jason

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