been haveing an issue with my PS3 and hopeing it may be an easy fix...but i'm getting the idea its not

i have a 60 gig PS3 and lately i've been haveing issues with no sound output. the issue used to be infrequent but last time it happened i havn't been able to get the sound back.

i've been useing an HDMI cable to output sound and video. sometimes when i power on i would get no sound at all. i tried diffrent cables as well as diffrent hdmi ports on the TV (i have 4 and tried them all) but still no sound. getting sound back was basicly random. sometimes i would just reset and would get sound. one time i had no sound did a system update and after the install and restart i would have sound. i would play a game one night with no problem turn the ps3 off and go to sleep and the next day when i powered up to continue my game no sound.

i tried getting around this issue by useing the hdmi output for video and the muti out/RCA connectors for sound (one of my HDMI ports has red/white stero ports) but again, video but no sound.

the only way i can get consistant sound is useing the multi a/v out through componant which of course gimps me from 1080P as its only avalible through HDMI. i tried playing with the system sound settings but nothing works and it seems no matter what i try no i'm not getting sound via hdmi. my guess is the HDMI port on my ps3 is damaged. any idea? my only other idea is getting a sound system and running sound through optical and video through hdmi (is this doable?)