220-1201 Practice Test 5 — 25 Questions

Question 1

A technician is configuring an MFP for a healthcare clinic that must comply with HIPAA. The MFP has a built-in hard drive that stores scanned documents. The clinic wants to ensure that once a document is scanned and transmitted, it cannot be recovered from the MFP's drive. What feature should the technician enable?

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

Accepted Answer

Secure erase after transmission. Secure erase (or data overwrite) is a feature that overwrites the hard drive with patterns of data to prevent recovery. This is critical for compliance in environments like healthcare where patient data must be protected after use.

Answer

User authentication with PIN

Answer

Secure print release

Answer

Hard drive encryption

Question 2

A technician is troubleshooting a Samsung Galaxy tablet that has a cracked screen but still responds to touch. The user wants to transfer data to a new tablet. The technician connects the tablet to a PC via USB, but the PC does not recognize the device. What is the most likely reason?

Accepted Answer

The tablet is in USB charging-only mode and cannot be changed due to the cracked screen. When a device's screen is cracked, the digitizer may still work, but the user might not be able to change USB settings from 'Charging only' to 'File transfer' if the touch input is needed for that selection. This is a common scenario where the default USB mode prevents data access.

Answer

The USB cable is defective

Answer

The tablet's USB port is damaged from the drop

Answer

The PC lacks the proper Samsung USB drivers

Question 3

A customer reports that their new laptop can connect to websites using IP addresses but cannot resolve domain names like 'www.example.com'. Which networking tool should be used to verify the DNS server configuration on the laptop?

Accepted Answer

ipconfig /all. The ipconfig /all command displays the full TCP/IP configuration, including the DNS server addresses assigned to the laptop's network adapter. Since the user can reach websites by IP address but not by domain name, the issue is likely with DNS resolution; ipconfig /all allows verification of whether the DNS server is correctly configured or pointing to an unreachable server.

Answer

ping 8.8.8.8

Answer

nslookup www.example.com

Answer

tracert 8.8.8.8

Question 4

During a hardware installation, you are tasked with setting up a RAID 1 array in a server using two identical 4 TB HDDs. After configuration, the total usable capacity is only 4 TB. Is this expected behavior?

Accepted Answer

Yes, RAID 1 provides fault tolerance by mirroring data, so usable capacity is 4 TB.. RAID 1 is a mirrored configuration where identical data is written to both drives simultaneously. Because each drive holds a complete copy of the data, the usable capacity equals the size of a single drive — 4 TB in this case — while the second drive provides redundancy. This is expected and correct behavior.

Answer

No, the array should show 8 TB because the drives are identical.

Answer

No, the array should be configured as RAID 0 to get 8 TB.

Answer

Yes, but only if the drives are set as JBOD.

Question 5

A user complains that their PC sometimes fails to boot and displays a 'CMOS Checksum Error' message. After replacing the CMOS battery, the error persists. What motherboard component should you inspect next?

Accepted Answer

The BIOS/UEFI chip. A persistent 'CMOS Checksum Error' after replacing the CMOS battery points to corruption or failure of the BIOS/UEFI firmware chip itself, since that chip stores the firmware and its checksum. If the battery is good but the checksum still fails, the NVRAM/EEPROM holding BIOS settings or the firmware image is likely damaged, requiring a BIOS reflash or motherboard replacement.

Answer

The CPU socket pins

Answer

The RAM modules

Answer

The power supply unit

Question 6

A technician is troubleshooting a PC that fails to POST. The CPU fan spins, but there is no display output. The motherboard has a diagnostic LED that shows a CPU error. Which step should the technician take first to resolve the issue?

Accepted Answer

Reseat the CPU. Reseating the CPU is the correct first step because a CPU error LED with a spinning fan but no POST often indicates poor CPU socket contact, which can result from a loose CPU, bent pins, or thermal paste issues. Reseating is non-destructive and addresses the most common cause before replacing hardware. Replacing the power supply or CPU is premature, and BIOS update is not possible without POST.

Answer

Replace the power supply

Answer

Update the BIOS using a USB flashback

Answer

Replace the CPU

Question 7

A small business reports that employees can access the internet but cannot reach the internal company website hosted on a local server. The server's IP address is 192.168.1.10, and clients use DHCP. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The DNS server lacks a host record for the internal website.. The internal website is accessed by its hostname, which clients resolve via DNS. Since employees can reach the internet (so general DNS works) but not the local server, the most likely cause is that the DNS server lacks a host record (A or AAAA record) for the internal website's name, preventing name-to-IP resolution for 192.168.1.10. DHCP is functioning correctly because clients receive IP addresses and can access the internet.

Answer

The DHCP server is not assigning the correct subnet mask.

Answer

The switch port connecting the server is administratively down.

Answer

The firewall is blocking port 443 inbound.

Question 8

A user's iPhone 14 cannot make or receive calls, but can send iMessages and use the internet. The user has not changed any settings recently. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The carrier settings need to be updated.. The ability to send iMessages and use the internet indicates that the device has a working data connection (cellular or Wi-Fi), but the inability to make or receive calls points to a problem with the carrier-specific settings that control voice services. Carrier settings updates are pushed by the carrier to configure network parameters such as APN, MMS, and voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) settings; if these are outdated or corrupted, voice calls may fail while data services remain functional. Since the user has not changed any settings, an automatic or pending carrier settings update is the most likely cause, as it can resolve mismatches between the device and the carrier's network.

Answer

The phone is in Airplane Mode.

Answer

The SIM card is damaged.

Answer

The phone's microphone is broken.

Question 9

A user reports that they can only access the internet intermittently. The technician runs ipconfig and sees an IPv4 address of 192.168.1.105 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and a default gateway of 192.168.1.1. The technician pings the gateway successfully, but pings to 8.8.8.8 fail. What is the most likely issue?

Accepted Answer

The router's WAN connection is down or misconfigured.. The technician can ping the local gateway (192.168.1.1) successfully, which confirms that Layer 2 and Layer 3 connectivity within the local subnet is working and that the user's IP configuration is valid. However, pings to the public DNS server 8.8.8.8 fail, indicating that traffic cannot reach the internet. Since the gateway is reachable but external IPs are not, the most likely cause is that the router's WAN connection is down or misconfigured, preventing traffic from being routed beyond the local network.

Answer

The user's computer has a duplicate IP address.

Answer

The DNS server is not resolving addresses.

Answer

The user's firewall is blocking ICMP traffic.

Question 10

A user's laptop connects to the office Wi-Fi but cannot access the internet. Other devices on the same network work fine. The laptop's IP address is 169.254.25.14. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The DHCP server is not responding or the laptop cannot reach it.. The IP address 169.254.25.14 falls within the Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) range (169.254.0.0/16), which Windows assigns when a DHCP client fails to receive an IP lease from a DHCP server. Since other devices on the same network work fine, the issue is isolated to this laptop's inability to communicate with the DHCP server, not a network-wide outage. This makes option C correct.

Answer

The DNS server is unreachable.

Answer

The laptop's wireless adapter driver is corrupted.

Answer

The SSID is hidden and requires manual entry.

Question 11

A customer reports that their desktop computer randomly shuts down when they run video editing software. The system has a high-end GPU and 32 GB of RAM. During troubleshooting, you notice the CPU temperature quickly rises to 95°C under load. Which of the following is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

CPU cooler fan failure or poor thermal paste application. The CPU temperature rapidly reaching 95°C under load is a clear indicator of inadequate heat dissipation. This is most commonly caused by a failing CPU cooler fan or dried-out/improperly applied thermal paste, which prevents heat from transferring from the CPU to the heatsink. Since the system shuts down only under heavy load (video editing), the issue is thermal-related, not power or memory. The high-end GPU and 32 GB RAM are irrelevant to the CPU temperature spike.

Answer

Insufficient power supply wattage

Answer

Faulty RAM module

Answer

Outdated BIOS firmware

Question 12

During a network upgrade, a technician needs to document the physical path a cable takes from a workstation to the patch panel in the server room. Which tool is specifically designed to trace the exact cable route through walls and ceilings?

Accepted Answer

Toner and probe. A toner and probe (often called a fox and hound) is specifically designed to trace the physical path of a cable through walls, ceilings, and conduits. The toner injects an analog audio signal onto the cable, and the inductive probe detects that signal without needing a direct electrical connection, allowing the technician to follow the cable's route even when it is hidden behind building materials.

Answer

Cable tester

Answer

Crimper

Answer

Punch-down tool

Question 13

A user wants to connect their smartphone to a car's stereo system that only has an auxiliary input (3.5mm jack). The smartphone has a USB-C port and no headphone jack. Which accessory is required?

Accepted Answer

A USB-C to 3.5mm adapter.. The car stereo only has a 3.5mm auxiliary input, so the smartphone's audio output must be converted to analog audio. A USB-C to 3.5mm adapter contains a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that converts the smartphone's digital audio signal into an analog signal that the car stereo can accept through the 3.5mm jack.

Answer

A USB-C to USB-A cable.

Answer

A Bluetooth FM transmitter.

Answer

A 3.5mm extension cable.

Question 14

A customer complains that their VoIP phone intermittently drops calls. A technician checks the network and finds high latency and jitter during peak hours. Which network service should be configured to prioritize VoIP traffic?

Accepted Answer

QoS. B is correct because Quality of Service (QoS) is the network service designed to manage bandwidth and prioritize time-sensitive traffic like VoIP. By marking VoIP packets (e.g., with DSCP EF or CoS 5) and applying queuing mechanisms such as LLQ or CBWFQ, QoS reduces latency and jitter during congestion, directly addressing the intermittent call drops during peak hours.

Answer

DHCP

Answer

DNS

Answer

VPN

Question 15

A user complains that their iOS device's screen brightness automatically dims when using a particular streaming app, but stays normal with other apps. The auto-brightness setting is enabled. What is the most likely reason?

Accepted Answer

The app has its own brightness control that is set to dim.. Many streaming apps implement their own brightness control logic, often to optimize video playback or reduce power consumption. When the app's internal brightness setting is configured to dim, it overrides the system's auto-brightness for that specific app, causing the screen to dim only while the app is active. This is a common behavior in apps that manage their own display parameters independently of the iOS system settings.

Answer

The app is using HDR content, which requires lower brightness.

Answer

The device's ambient light sensor is malfunctioning.

Answer

The device is overheating and throttling brightness.

Question 16

A technician is configuring a RAID array in a server that requires both high performance and fault tolerance. The server has four identical 2TB SATA HDDs. The RAID controller supports RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10. Which RAID level should the technician choose to meet both requirements?

Accepted Answer

RAID 10. This question tests understanding of RAID levels and their trade-offs. RAID 10 (striping + mirroring) provides both performance (striping) and fault tolerance (mirroring), but requires at least 4 drives. RAID 5 offers fault tolerance with parity but has slower write performance. RAID 0 has no fault tolerance, and RAID 1 only provides fault tolerance with no performance gain.

Answer

RAID 0

Answer

RAID 1

Answer

RAID 5

Question 17

A user reports that their new Thunderbolt 4 external GPU (eGPU) is not recognized by their laptop, which has a Thunderbolt 4 port. The eGPU works on another laptop. Which connector-related issue is most likely?

Accepted Answer

The cable used is a passive USB-C cable, not an active Thunderbolt 4 cable.. Thunderbolt 4 requires an active cable for full functionality, and a passive USB-C cable may not carry the PCIe signal needed for eGPU operation. This tests understanding of Thunderbolt cable requirements and the difference between passive and active cables.

Answer

The laptop's Thunderbolt 4 port is disabled in BIOS.

Answer

The eGPU requires a Thunderbolt 3 port, not Thunderbolt 4.

Answer

The laptop's Thunderbolt 4 port is not providing enough power.

Question 18

A network administrator needs to determine the exact model and firmware version of a switch located in a remote wiring closet without physically visiting the site. The switch is configured with an IP address on the management VLAN. Which tool can be used to query the switch's SNMP agent for this information?

Accepted Answer

SNMP management tool. An SNMP management tool can query the switch's SNMP agent using GET requests to retrieve the exact model and firmware version from the system MIB (RFC 1213), specifically the sysDescr (1.3.6.1.2.1.1.1) and sysObjectID (1.3.6.1.2.1.1.2) OIDs. This allows remote, agent-based access without physical site visits, as the switch is reachable via its management VLAN IP address.

Answer

Packet analyzer (e.g., Wireshark)

Answer

Port scanner (e.g., Nmap)

Answer

Wi-Fi analyzer

Question 19

A technician is troubleshooting a network where users can access the internet but cannot reach a specific internal web server by its hostname. Pinging the server's IP address works. What is the most likely issue?

Accepted Answer

The DNS server does not have a record for the server's hostname.. The user can reach the server by IP but not by hostname, which isolates the failure to name resolution rather than routing or connectivity. Since ping to the IP succeeds, the network path and the server itself are fine; the most likely cause is that the DNS server lacks an A (or AAAA) record mapping the hostname to the server's IP. Adding or correcting the DNS record resolves the issue.

Answer

The web server's firewall is blocking ICMP.

Answer

The DHCP server is not assigning correct IP addresses.

Answer

The network switch is dropping packets to the server.

Question 20

A technician is troubleshooting a network where two computers cannot communicate. Computer A has an IP of 192.168.1.10 with subnet mask 255.255.255.0. Computer B has an IP of 192.168.2.20 with subnet mask 255.255.255.0. Both are connected to the same switch. The switch is not configured with VLANs. Why can't the computers communicate?

Accepted Answer

The computers are on different subnets and need a router to communicate.. Computer A (192.168.1.10/24) and Computer B (192.168.2.20/24) are on different subnets because their subnet masks (255.255.255.0) define network IDs of 192.168.1.0 and 192.168.2.0 respectively. A switch operates at Layer 2 and forwards frames based on MAC addresses within the same broadcast domain, but it cannot route traffic between different subnets. For inter-subnet communication, a Layer 3 device such as a router (or a Layer 3 switch) is required to perform routing.

Answer

The switch is blocking the traffic due to MAC address filtering.

Answer

The subnet mask on Computer B is incorrect.

Answer

The default gateway on both computers is not set.