Was this when headphones were plugged in? I've had this when I had headphones plugged in, but they weren't all the way in...
Or, have you had your MacBook plugged into an external sound module? Such as an Design DigiBox or anything sort of firewire desk? I know my MacBook won't let me adjust the volume when using stuff like this, and it's controlled on the external module...
no, there isnt anything pluged into the computer