220-1201 Practice Exam 51 — 20 Questions

Question 1

A user wants to upgrade their laptop from a traditional HDD to an SSD for faster boot times. They have a SATA III interface available. Which type of SSD should you recommend for the best performance without requiring an adapter?

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

Accepted Answer

2.5-inch SATA SSD. A 2.5-inch SATA SSD is the direct replacement for a laptop HDD, using the same interface and form factor. NVMe M.2 drives require an M.2 slot, which this laptop may not have. mSATA is less common and not standard in most laptops.

Answer

NVMe M.2 SSD

Answer

mSATA SSD

Answer

External USB SSD

Question 2

A technician is tasked with upgrading the RAM in a desktop motherboard that has four DIMM slots. The existing configuration has two 4GB sticks in slots A1 and B1. The user wants to add two more 4GB sticks for a total of 16GB. After installing the new sticks in slots A2 and B2, the system boots but only shows 8GB of RAM. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The new RAM is incompatible with the existing RAM. When mixing RAM modules, even if they are the same size, they may not be compatible if they have different timings, speeds, or ranks. The motherboard may default to the lowest common denominator or fail to recognize mismatched modules. This is a common issue when not using matched kits.

Answer

The new RAM is not seated properly

Answer

The motherboard does not support four sticks of RAM

Answer

The BIOS needs an update to support higher capacity

Question 3

A technician is installing a new M.2 NVMe SSD in a desktop computer. After installation, the drive is not listed in the operating system's disk management tool, but it appears in the UEFI firmware interface. What should the technician do first?

Accepted Answer

Initialize the disk in Disk Management and create a volume.. When a drive is recognized in UEFI but not in the OS, it often means the drive is not initialized or formatted. Disk Management can initialize the drive and assign a file system, making it usable by the OS.

Answer

Update the UEFI firmware to the latest version.

Answer

Change the SATA mode from AHCI to IDE in UEFI.

Answer

Reseat the M.2 drive in the slot.

Question 4

A company uses VMware vSphere to run multiple VMs on a single ESXi host. A user reports that their VM suddenly lost network connectivity, but other VMs on the same host are working fine. The technician checks the virtual switch configuration and finds that the VM’s virtual NIC is connected to a port group that has no active uplinks. What should the technician do to restore connectivity?

Accepted Answer

Add a physical NIC to the port group as an active uplink.. In virtualization, a port group defines network settings for VMs. If a port group has no active uplinks, VMs in that group cannot communicate outside the host. The correct answer involves either adding an uplink or moving the VM to a working port group. This tests understanding of virtual networking components.

Answer

Reboot the ESXi host to refresh the network stack.

Answer

Change the VM’s virtual NIC type from E1000 to VMXNET3.

Answer

Disable and re-enable the virtual switch.

Question 5

A technician is configuring a workstation for a graphic designer who needs to work with large 4K video files. The motherboard supports SATA III and has one M.2 slot. Which storage configuration will provide the best performance for this workload?

Accepted Answer

One NVMe M.2 SSD for both the OS and media files.. This question tests understanding of storage interface speeds. NVMe M.2 SSDs offer significantly higher sequential read/write speeds (up to 3500 MB/s) compared to SATA III (up to 550 MB/s), making them ideal for large file editing.

Answer

One SATA III SSD for the OS and one SATA III HDD for media files.

Answer

Two SATA III SSDs in RAID 0.

Answer

One SATA III SSD for the OS and one NVMe M.2 SSD for media files.

Question 6

After replacing a motherboard, a technician finds that the PC will not power on at all. The power supply fan does not spin, and no LEDs light up. The PSU was working before the replacement. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The front panel power switch header is not connected correctly. No power at all after a motherboard swap strongly suggests an electrical connection issue. The most common cause is that the front panel power switch header is not connected correctly to the motherboard, or the PSU is not properly connected to the motherboard.

Answer

The power supply is dead

Answer

The CPU is not compatible with the new motherboard

Answer

The RAM is not seated properly

Question 7

A technician is troubleshooting a PC that powers on but does not display anything on the monitor. The fans spin, and the keyboard lights flash briefly. The power supply fan is spinning. What is the most efficient next step to isolate the issue?

Accepted Answer

Test the power supply output voltages with a multimeter. Testing the power supply with a multimeter or PSU tester is efficient because it quickly verifies if all rails are within spec. A failing PSU can cause no-post issues even if the fan spins. Other components like RAM or GPU could also be at fault, but checking power first avoids wasted effort.

Answer

Replace the power supply immediately

Answer

Reseat the GPU and RAM

Answer

Check the monitor cable connection

Question 8

A user complains that their inkjet printer produces smudged output that rubs off when touched. The printer uses standard plain paper and the ink cartridges are original. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The paper type setting is incorrect for the media. Smudged ink that rubs off on an inkjet printer usually means the ink is not drying properly. This can happen if the paper type setting is incorrect (e.g., set to 'plain paper' when using glossy paper) or if the printer is set to a high-speed mode that doesn't allow enough drying time. Adjusting the paper type or print quality setting often resolves the issue.

Answer

The printhead is misaligned

Answer

The ink cartridges are counterfeit

Answer

The fuser is malfunctioning

Question 9

A small business owner wants to add a second internal hard drive to a desktop computer for nightly backups. The existing drive is a 2.5-inch SATA SSD. The motherboard has one free SATA port and one free power connector from the PSU. Which type of drive should the technician install to maximize compatibility and reliability?

Accepted Answer

A 3.5-inch SATA HDD. This question tests basic knowledge of SATA interfaces and form factor compatibility. A 3.5-inch SATA HDD is the standard choice for bulk storage in a desktop, and it uses the same SATA data and power connectors as the existing SSD. The other options either have incompatible connectors or are not standard internal drives.

Answer

A 2.5-inch SATA HDD

Answer

An M.2 SATA SSD

Answer

A 2.5-inch PATA (IDE) HDD

Question 10

A technician is upgrading a server that requires ECC (Error-Correcting Code) RAM. The technician has a box of non-ECC DDR4 modules from a desktop. Can these be used in the server?

Accepted Answer

No, because non-ECC RAM is not compatible with ECC-required systems.. ECC and non-ECC RAM are not interchangeable; servers that require ECC will not boot or may operate incorrectly with non-ECC modules. Additionally, mixing ECC and non-ECC is not supported. The technician must use ECC RAM specifically designed for the server.

Answer

Yes, as long as the speed and capacity match.

Answer

Yes, but only if the server's BIOS is set to ignore ECC errors.

Answer

No, because DDR4 desktop modules are physically larger than server modules.

Question 11

A technician is troubleshooting a desktop that fails to boot after the user installed a new M.2 NVMe SSD. The computer powers on, but the screen remains black and no BIOS splash screen appears. What is the most likely cause of this issue?

Accepted Answer

The motherboard's BIOS is outdated and does not support NVMe boot.. This question tests understanding of M.2 installation and BIOS/UEFI compatibility. When a new M.2 NVMe SSD is installed, an outdated motherboard BIOS may lack the necessary firmware to properly initialize or even recognize the NVMe controller during the Power-On Self-Test (POST). If the BIOS cannot properly enumerate or initialize the NVMe device, it can cause the POST process to hang, resulting in a black screen with no BIOS splash screen. A BIOS update is often required to add support for newer NVMe hardware, allowing the system to complete POST and proceed to the boot sequence.

Answer

The M.2 drive is not fully seated in the slot.

Answer

The M.2 drive is a SATA type but the slot only supports NVMe.

Answer

The power supply unit is insufficient to power the new drive.

Question 12

A user complains that their laptop's Wi-Fi connection is extremely slow and keeps dropping, but other devices on the same network work fine. The laptop is an older model running Windows 10. Which of the following should the technician try first?

Accepted Answer

Update the Wi-Fi driver. An outdated or corrupted Wi-Fi driver is a common cause of connectivity issues on older laptops. Updating the driver is a software-level fix that is quick and non-invasive, and it often resolves intermittent connectivity problems.

Answer

Replace the laptop's Wi-Fi card

Answer

Disable the firewall

Answer

Reset the router

Question 13

A user complains that their PC is running slowly, especially when opening multiple browser tabs. The system has 4 GB of RAM installed, and the OS is Windows 10 64-bit. Task Manager shows memory usage consistently at 90-95%. Which upgrade would provide the most immediate performance improvement?

Accepted Answer

Add an additional 4 GB of RAM to bring the total to 8 GB.. With 4 GB of RAM, Windows 10 is likely using most of it for the OS and background processes, leaving little for applications. Upgrading to 8 GB or more will significantly reduce paging to the hard drive and improve multitasking. Adding more RAM is the most effective solution for this symptom, as the system is memory-constrained.

Answer

Upgrade the CPU to a faster model.

Answer

Replace the hard drive with a solid-state drive (SSD).

Answer

Disable the page file to force the system to use only RAM.

Question 14

A small office server uses RAID 5 with three 1 TB hard drives. One drive fails and is replaced with a new 1 TB drive. During the rebuild process, the server becomes very slow and the RAID controller reports an error. What is the most likely cause of the slowdown?

Accepted Answer

The rebuild process is consuming all available disk I/O.. RAID 5 rebuilds require reading data from all remaining drives to reconstruct parity, which consumes significant I/O resources. This can cause performance degradation, especially if the array is in use during rebuild. The error may also indicate a second drive failure or a bad sector.

Answer

The new drive is not the same model as the others.

Answer

The RAID controller is overheating.

Answer

The new drive is not properly seated in the bay.

Question 15

A user reports that their smartphone's battery drains very quickly, even when the phone is idle. The phone is less than a year old. Which of the following is the most likely cause of this issue?

Accepted Answer

An app is running in the background and consuming power. A common cause of rapid battery drain on smartphones is apps running in the background, especially after an OS update that may change permissions or app behavior. Checking battery usage statistics can help identify the culprit.

Answer

The battery is defective and needs replacement

Answer

The screen brightness is set too high

Answer

The phone is infected with a virus

Question 16

A technician is building a workstation for video editing and needs to configure a RAID array for maximum performance without redundancy. The motherboard supports RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10. Which RAID level should the technician choose?

Accepted Answer

RAID 0. RAID 0 stripes data across multiple drives, offering the best read/write performance by utilizing all drives simultaneously. However, it provides no fault tolerance, meaning if one drive fails, all data is lost. This matches the requirement for maximum performance without redundancy.

Answer

RAID 1

Answer

RAID 5

Answer

RAID 10

Question 17

A user's laser printer is displaying a 'Replace Fuser' error message, but the pages are printing correctly. The printer has a maintenance kit that includes a fuser, transfer roller, and pickup rollers. What should be done?

Accepted Answer

Replace the fuser using the maintenance kit. The 'Replace Fuser' error is a proactive maintenance indicator, not necessarily a sign of failure. If print quality is fine, the fuser may still be functional, but the printer's page count has reached the recommended replacement interval. Replacing the fuser as part of the maintenance kit prevents future issues and clears the error.

Answer

Ignore the error and continue printing

Answer

Reset the printer's maintenance counter without replacing anything

Answer

Replace only the toner cartridge

Question 18

A technician is troubleshooting a network where a single workstation cannot access any network resources. The link light on the NIC is solid, and the IP configuration shows an address of 192.168.1.100 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. The workstation can ping its own IP but not the default gateway (192.168.1.1). What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The switch port is configured with the wrong VLAN.. The workstation has a valid IP and can ping itself, indicating the NIC and stack are working. However, it cannot reach the gateway, which suggests a Layer 2 issue—likely an incorrect or missing default gateway configuration, or a VLAN mismatch on the switch port.

Answer

The DNS server is unreachable.

Answer

The Ethernet cable is a crossover cable.

Answer

The workstation's subnet mask is wrong.

Question 19

A company is migrating its on-premises database to a cloud PaaS solution. The database currently contains sensitive customer information. Which of the following is the most important security consideration for the migration?

Accepted Answer

Configuring encryption for data at rest and in transit. When moving sensitive data to the cloud, encryption at rest and in transit is critical to protect against unauthorized access. While access controls and compliance are important, encryption is a fundamental requirement. The shared responsibility model means the provider secures the infrastructure, but the customer must secure the data.

Answer

Ensuring the PaaS provider has physical security at their data center

Answer

Setting up a VPN between the on-premises network and the cloud

Answer

Verifying that the provider uses a specific hypervisor

Question 20

During a desktop build, you install a new M.2 NVMe SSD into the M.2 slot. When you power on the system, the BIOS does not detect the drive. The SSD is known to be working. What is the most likely motherboard-related cause?

Accepted Answer

The M.2 slot is SATA-only and the drive is NVMe. M.2 slots can support either SATA, PCIe (NVMe), or both. If an M.2 slot is designed only for SATA M.2 drives, it will not provide the necessary PCIe interface for an NVMe drive, even if the drive physically fits. This fundamental incompatibility means the BIOS will not detect the NVMe drive. Checking the motherboard manual for M.2 slot compatibility is crucial.

Answer

The CMOS battery needs replacement

Answer

The motherboard BIOS is corrupted

Answer

The CPU is not seated properly