This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/abmbuli on 2025-11-09 23:12:55+00:00.
I bought used Astro A40 headphones from a friend and they worked perfectly fine for a couple of months. Then all of a sudden I could not get my microphone to work. I tried everything I could think of, first thinking Discord was bugged but then I noticed it didn't work when I tried to play with friends either. Each time I wanted to spend time with my online friends I had to use discord on my phone. Which was very inconvenient and frustrating since I couldn't play anything that involved me speaking in-game and it overheated my phone almost every time since I also share data from my phone to the computer. And each time I tried all the settings just begging it would work this time. I figured I had somehow broken the microphone and got very close to just buying a new headset but had to give up the thought with my very limited budget.
Well tonight I was watching an intense game of poker and turning the lump in the cord in my hands when I felt something give. Having previously inspected the lump without noticing any switches or buttons I immediately panicked thinking I had broken the headphones further. But upon closer inspection I noticed that the whole top part of the lump is a switch that can be slid back and forth. The rush of relief I got from realizing I had just unmuted the mic was very intense. So thank fuck for Alan Keating and his insane way of playing poker.
TL;DR: Bought used headphones without realising I had accidentally muted the microphone at some point.