220-1201 Practice Test 31 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A user complains that their external monitor flickers intermittently. The monitor is connected via a DVI cable to a graphics card that has both DVI-I and DVI-D ports. Which of the following is the most likely cause of the flickering?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

The DVI cable is loose or damaged. A loose or damaged DVI cable is a common cause of intermittent flickering, as poor contact can disrupt the signal. DVI-I and DVI-D are compatible, so port type is less likely the issue. This tests troubleshooting skills for display connection problems.

Answer

The graphics card driver is outdated

Answer

The monitor's refresh rate is set too high

Answer

The DVI port is incompatible with the cable

Question 2

A customer complains that their computer will not turn on. The power supply fan does not spin, and the motherboard LED is off. The technician tests the power supply with a multimeter and gets 0V on all pins. What should the technician do next?

Accepted Answer

Check the wall outlet with a voltage tester.. The technician measured 0V on all power supply pins with a multimeter, which indicates the PSU is not receiving power or is completely dead. Before replacing the PSU, the next logical step is to verify the power source — checking the wall outlet with a voltage tester confirms whether the outlet is supplying power. If the outlet is dead, replacing the PSU would not solve the problem.

Answer

Replace the motherboard.

Answer

Reseat the 24-pin power connector.

Answer

Replace the power supply with a known-good unit.

Question 3

A small business has a single router with four built-in switch ports. They need to connect 12 wired devices. They have a 24-port unmanaged switch. Which configuration will provide the best network performance and connectivity?

Accepted Answer

Connect the switch to one of the router's LAN ports, then connect all 12 devices to the switch.. Connecting the 24-port unmanaged switch to one of the router's LAN ports extends the network, allowing all 12 devices to connect via the switch. The router handles routing and DHCP, while the switch provides ample ports and wire-speed forwarding at Layer 2, ensuring optimal performance without collisions or bandwidth contention.

Answer

Connect all 12 devices directly to the router's four ports using splitters.

Answer

Connect half the devices to the router and half to the switch, then connect the switch to the router.

Answer

Use the router as a switch by disabling its routing functions.

Question 4

A user reports that their inkjet printer prints blank pages even though the ink cartridges are full and the printer shows no error messages. The technician has already checked the ink levels and performed a nozzle check, which showed no ink on the test pattern. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The printhead has failed and needs to be replaced.. A nozzle check that produces no ink on the test pattern, despite full cartridges and no error messages, indicates the printhead is not firing at all. Since the cartridges are confirmed full and seated, and the nozzle check bypasses driver and paper-path issues, the most likely cause is a failed printhead — a hardware failure that requires replacement (or, in many inkjets, replacement of the cartridge if the printhead is integrated).

Answer

The printer driver is corrupted and needs reinstallation.

Answer

The paper type setting is set to 'transparency'.

Answer

The ink cartridges are not properly seated.

Question 5

A network administrator is troubleshooting a slow connection between two buildings connected by a fiber optic link. The link is up but throughput is lower than expected. Which tool should be used to measure the exact signal loss in the fiber?

Accepted Answer

OTDR. An Optical Time-Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) is the correct tool because it sends a series of optical pulses into the fiber and measures the backscattered and reflected light to calculate the exact signal loss (attenuation) at specific points along the link. This allows the administrator to identify splices, bends, or connectors causing excessive loss, which directly explains the low throughput despite the link being up.

Answer

Multimeter

Answer

Tone generator

Answer

Wi-Fi analyzer

Question 6

A technician is setting up a new branch office and needs to assign IPs to 30 devices. The ISP provided a public IP block of 203.0.113.0/28. The technician decides to use private IPs internally and NAT. Which of the following is the most appropriate private IP range for this network?

Accepted Answer

192.168.1.0/24. (192.168.1.0/24) is correct because it provides a private IP range (per RFC 1918) that supports up to 254 hosts, which is more than sufficient for 30 devices. The /28 public block from the ISP is used only for NAT translation, not for internal addressing, and private IPs must be used internally to conserve public addresses.

Answer

203.0.113.1 to 203.0.113.14

Answer

10.0.0.0/8

Answer

172.16.0.0/12

Question 7

A technician is troubleshooting a network where a user cannot access a web server at 10.0.0.50. The user's workstation has an IP of 10.0.0.25 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. The technician pings 10.0.0.50 and gets a reply, but the web page does not load. What should the technician check next?

Accepted Answer

Check if the web server's firewall is blocking HTTP/HTTPS traffic.. The ping reply confirms Layer 3 connectivity between the workstation and the web server, so the issue is not with IP routing or the default gateway. Since the web page does not load despite successful ICMP echo replies, the problem is likely at Layer 4 or above, such as the web server's firewall blocking HTTP (port 80) or HTTPS (port 443) traffic. The technician should check the server's firewall rules to ensure these ports are open.

Answer

Verify the default gateway on the workstation.

Answer

Change the workstation's IP address to a different subnet.

Answer

Replace the network cable between the workstation and switch.

Question 8

A user reports intermittent network connectivity in an office that recently had a new ceiling installed. The network drop runs through the ceiling and is not in a conduit. What is the most likely cause of the intermittent connection?

Accepted Answer

The cable is pinched or kinked by the new ceiling installation.. The new ceiling installation is the most likely cause because the network cable, running without conduit, can easily be pinched or kinked by ceiling tiles, support wires, or other hardware. Physical damage like a pinch or kink can cause impedance mismatches, signal reflection, or even a short, leading to intermittent connectivity. This is a classic physical-layer issue where the cable's integrity is compromised by environmental changes.

Answer

The cable is too long for the network speed.

Answer

The cable is not properly terminated at the patch panel.

Answer

The network switch port is faulty.

Question 9

A user reports that their laser printer prints fine from Windows, but when they print from a macOS device, the output is garbled with random characters. Both devices are on the same network. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The macOS printer driver is incorrect. Garbled output from one OS but not another typically indicates a driver or PPD issue. macOS uses PostScript Printer Description (PPD) files for laser printers, and an incorrect or missing PPD can cause communication errors. Installing the correct driver for macOS resolves the problem.

Answer

The printer's firmware is outdated

Answer

The network cable is faulty

Answer

The printer is set to the wrong emulation mode

Question 10

A customer complains that their inkjet printer's output has horizontal white lines across the page. The cartridges are new and the printer passes a nozzle check pattern. What should the technician check next?

Accepted Answer

Inspect the paper feed rollers. Horizontal white lines on inkjet output often indicate a paper feed issue, such as dirty or worn feed rollers. The roller's surface can lose traction, causing the paper to feed unevenly and creating gaps. Cleaning or replacing the feed rollers typically resolves the problem.

Answer

Replace the printhead

Answer

Clean the encoder strip

Answer

Update the printer driver

Question 11

A small business wants to migrate its email and document collaboration to the cloud but must keep sensitive financial records on local servers due to regulatory requirements. Which cloud deployment model should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Hybrid cloud. This question covers cloud deployment models. A hybrid cloud combines public cloud services (for email/collaboration) with private or on-premises infrastructure (for sensitive data). Public cloud alone would violate regulations, community cloud is for shared industry needs, and private cloud is entirely on-premises, missing the benefits of public cloud for non-sensitive workloads.

Answer

Public cloud

Answer

Private cloud

Answer

Community cloud

Question 12

A user reports that their color laser printer is producing prints with a repeating vertical black line down the left side of every page. The line appears at regular intervals. Which component is most likely causing this defect?

Accepted Answer

Imaging drum. Repeating marks on laser printer output often indicate a damaged component that rotates, such as the imaging drum or fuser roller. The distance between repeats helps identify the source. A vertical line at regular intervals is characteristic of a scratch or debris on the drum.

Answer

Toner cartridge

Answer

Transfer belt

Answer

Fuser roller

Question 13

A technician is troubleshooting a laser printer that frequently jams paper. The jams occur mostly when printing on both sides (duplex). What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The duplex rollers are worn. Duplex printing requires the paper to be flipped and fed back through the printer, which involves additional rollers and a duplex unit. Worn or dirty duplex rollers are a common cause of jams during duplex operations. Cleaning or replacing these rollers often fixes the issue.

Answer

The paper is too thick for the printer

Answer

The fuser is overheating

Answer

The toner cartridge is low

Question 14

A technician is setting up a thermal printer for a retail point-of-sale system that prints receipts. The printer uses direct thermal technology. After installation, the receipts are completely blank when printed. The printer feeds paper and makes printing sounds. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The thermal paper is loaded upside down.. Direct thermal printers use heat-sensitive paper; if the paper is loaded upside down, the thermal coating does not contact the printhead, resulting in blank output. The printer still feeds paper and makes noise because the mechanism works, but no image is produced. Other issues like driver or connection problems would typically cause errors or no activity.

Answer

The printer driver is not installed correctly.

Answer

The printhead is dirty and needs cleaning.

Answer

The printer is set to 'thermal transfer' mode instead of 'direct thermal'.

Question 15

A virtual machine running a database server experiences frequent disk I/O bottlenecks. The host has multiple physical disks. Which configuration change would most effectively improve performance?

Accepted Answer

Configure a pass-through disk for the VM. Pass-through disks give a VM direct access to a physical disk, bypassing the hypervisor's file system layer, reducing overhead and improving I/O performance for database workloads.

Answer

Increase the virtual disk size

Answer

Use a virtual disk on a network-attached storage (NAS)

Answer

Enable disk compression on the virtual disk