Sound only working intermittently

I have recently bought my son his first computer, a secondhand late '07 Macbook, running 10.6.8.
All works well except for an intermittent loss of sound.
When the sound fails the volume icon in the top bar greys out & in System Preferences/Sound it says "Play sound effects through  - DIGITAL OUTPUT , but when the sound is working ok it says INTERNAL SPEAKERS.).
We have no control over this, the problem is intermittent & occurs without any input from us.
When in Sys Preferences/Sound it says 'Digital Output' there are no other options to select. Likewise when the sound is working & it says 'Internal Speakers' there are no other options to select.
Although the relevant item in Sys Pref/Sound is "Play Sound Effects Through... " when it says 'Digital Out' All sound is lost, not just sound effects. ie. no iTunes sound, no Youtube sound etc.
We were sitting in front of the machine, bemoaning the fact that I had no idea what to do to get the sound back, not touching the machine, sound preferences open. We saw it change back to being operational in front of our eyes. Digital Out changed to Internal speakers & sound was fully restored.
I would dearly welcome an thoughts about what might be going on & whether it is likely to be easy/cheap to fix.  Hopefully a loose internal connection somewhere ???
Thanks folks
Cuppa
Ps. I used the Macbook on & off for a week with no sound problems........... until today

It's Ok, I've sussed it. Found other discussions here regarding same problem. (Should've looked first).
Problem is a sticky micro switch inside the headphone socket.
When it says 'Digital Output' in preferences, a red light can be seen inside the headphone socket. This means the micro switch has got stuck, & the computer thinks headphones are plugged in.
In our case the red light was flickering. Other threads suggest pushing a headphone jack in & out to try to free up the switch. Our experience is that as soon as a headphone jack (not connected to headphones or anything else) was plugged in sound was restored to the computer, & as long it remained plugged in sound remained. When unplugged the sound may or may not remain on, or may go off after a short time. I guess we need a new headphone socket, but for now the 'fix' will suffice.
Odd though, I would have thought plugging in the jack would ensure the sound remained off???
regards
Cuppa

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