Headphones with mike will not work?

Had a pair of headphones with mike for skype etc that worked fine. Without warning they stopped working. Thought it was headphones themselves so bought new pair. Still same problem. I have checked all the various settings for volume etc . There are 2 connections. Green and pink. If I plug in only the pink I have the sound from the console only. If I then plug in the green that sound goes altogether and I can only hear faint sound in the headphones. Mike does not work on skype test call. Any clues please.