220-1201 Practice Test 38 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A small business has a single access point that supports both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. Employees report that their smartphones connect to the 2.4 GHz band, causing slow internet speeds. Which configuration change should the technician make to prioritize 5 GHz for capable devices?

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

Accepted Answer

Enable band steering on the access point.. Band steering (also called client steering) is the correct solution because it actively encourages dual-band clients to connect to the less congested 5 GHz band by manipulating probe responses and beacon timing, without disabling the 2.4 GHz radio for legacy devices. This directly addresses the problem of smartphones preferring the 2.4 GHz band due to its stronger signal, while still allowing older 2.4 GHz-only devices to connect.

Answer

Disable the 2.4 GHz radio completely.

Answer

Set the 2.4 GHz channel to a non-overlapping channel like 1, 6, or 11.

Answer

Increase the transmit power of the 5 GHz radio.

Question 2

A customer reports that their external monitor connected via HDMI to a laptop shows a 'No Signal' message, even though the laptop screen works fine. The monitor has been tested with another device and works. What should you check first?

Accepted Answer

Press the function key to toggle display output.. The most likely cause is that the laptop's display output has not been switched to the external monitor. On most laptops, the HDMI port is inactive until the user presses the display-toggle function key (e.g., Fn+F4, Fn+F5, or Fn+F8 depending on vendor) or uses Win+P to select 'Duplicate' or 'Extend'. Since the monitor works with another device, the monitor and cable are likely fine, making the function key the first and quickest check.

Answer

Replace the HDMI cable.

Answer

Update the graphics driver.

Answer

Check the monitor's power cable.

Question 3

A company deploys a new internal application that uses a custom TCP port. The application fails to connect from client workstations. A technician verifies that the server is running and the firewall allows outbound traffic. Which step should the technician take next to identify the port issue?

Accepted Answer

Run netstat on the server to see if the application is listening on the correct port.. The technician needs to verify that the application is actually listening on the expected custom TCP port. Running `netstat -an` on the server will show all listening ports and their states; if the application's port is not listed, the application may be bound to a different port or not started correctly, which is a common cause of connection failures even when the server is running and outbound traffic is allowed.

Answer

Ping the server from a client to test network connectivity.

Answer

Use nslookup to verify the server's hostname resolves correctly.

Answer

Check the DHCP lease to ensure the client has a valid IP address.

Question 4

A technician is setting up a small office network with a router, a switch, and a wireless access point. The router has only one LAN port. The technician needs to connect the switch and the WAP to the router, but the switch has no uplink port. Which hardware component should the technician use to connect both devices to the router?

Accepted Answer

Connect the router to the switch, then connect the WAP to the switch.. When the router has only one LAN port and the switch has no dedicated uplink port, the correct approach is to connect the router to any switch port (modern switches auto-detect and use a standard straight-through cable) and then connect the WAP to another switch port. This daisy-chains the devices so both share the router's LAN connection, which is standard small-office topology.

Answer

Use a crossover cable to connect the router directly to the WAP.

Answer

Use a hub between the router and the switch.

Answer

Configure the switch as a router to connect to the WAP.

Question 5

A technician is setting up a new wireless network in a crowded office building. Users report that their laptops frequently disconnect from the Wi-Fi and have slow speeds, even when close to the access point. The technician scans the area and sees many overlapping Wi-Fi networks. What is the best solution to improve performance?

Accepted Answer

Change the access point to a less congested channel.. In a crowded RF environment with many overlapping Wi-Fi networks, co-channel and adjacent-channel interference is the primary cause of disconnects and slow speeds even at close range. Moving the access point to a less congested channel — ideally a non-overlapping 1, 6, or 11 in the 2.4 GHz band, or a clear channel in 5 GHz — directly reduces interference and restores throughput. This addresses the root cause rather than the symptom.

Answer

Increase the transmit power of the access point.

Answer

Disable SSID broadcast to hide the network.

Answer

Replace the access point with a higher-gain antenna model.

Question 6

A company's internal DNS server is not resolving hostnames for clients. The technician verifies that the DNS service is running and the firewall allows traffic on port 53. However, clients still cannot resolve names. What is the most likely issue?

Accepted Answer

The firewall is blocking TCP port 53. DNS uses both UDP and TCP on port 53. While initial queries typically use UDP, responses that are truncated (e.g., due to large DNSSEC records or many resource records) require TCP to complete the resolution. Since the technician verified that the firewall allows traffic on port 53 (likely only UDP) and the DNS service is running, the most likely issue is that the firewall is blocking TCP port 53, preventing the fallback TCP connection needed for successful name resolution.

Answer

The firewall is blocking UDP port 53

Answer

The DNS server is using port 5353 instead of 53

Answer

Clients are using the wrong DNS server IP

Question 7

A user reports that their LCD monitor intermittently goes black for 2-3 seconds, then returns to normal. This happens randomly, not during any specific activity. The monitor's power LED stays green during the blackouts. Which component is most likely failing?

Accepted Answer

The monitor's backlight or inverter is failing. Intermittent blackouts of 2-3 seconds where the power LED stays green indicate the monitor is still powered and receiving a signal, but the backlight or inverter is failing to keep the panel illuminated. A failing backlight or inverter causes the screen to go dark while the monitor remains on, matching the symptom of a green LED during blackouts. This is a classic hardware failure pattern for LCD monitors.

Answer

The video cable is loose

Answer

The graphics card is overheating

Answer

The monitor's power supply is failing

Question 8

After installing a second hard drive in a desktop PC, the system boots but the new drive does not appear in File Explorer. The drive is listed in Disk Management as 'Unknown' and 'Not Initialized'. What should the technician do first?

Accepted Answer

Initialize the disk in Disk Management.. A disk showing as 'Unknown' and 'Not Initialized' in Disk Management means the drive has no partition table (neither MBR nor GPT). The first step is to initialize the disk, which writes the partition table and allows the drive to be partitioned and formatted. Only after initialization can the drive be formatted and assigned a drive letter.

Answer

Replace the SATA cable.

Answer

Format the drive immediately.

Answer

Update the motherboard chipset drivers.

Question 9

A customer reports that their smart TV, which is connected to the home network via Wi-Fi, can stream video from the internet but cannot access media files stored on a wired desktop PC in the same home. The TV and PC are on the same IP subnet. Which network type is most likely being used, and why does this cause the issue?

Accepted Answer

Peer-to-peer network; the TV and PC may be in different workgroups or have disabled file sharing.. A peer-to-peer (P2P) network typically uses workgroups and relies on each device to share resources individually. The TV can stream from the internet (using a client-server model with a remote streaming service) but cannot access local files because the PC may be in a different workgroup, have file sharing disabled, or require SMB/CIFS authentication that the TV cannot perform. Since both devices are on the same IP subnet, the issue is not routing but rather the lack of a centralized authentication or discovery mechanism, which is characteristic of a P2P network.

Answer

Client-server network; the TV cannot authenticate to the server.

Answer

Mesh network; the TV is connected to a different mesh node that blocks local traffic.

Answer

PAN network; the TV is using Bluetooth instead of Wi-Fi.

Question 10

A technician is configuring a new server and needs to install ECC (Error-Correcting Code) RAM. The motherboard supports both ECC and non-ECC DDR4 memory. The technician installs ECC RAM, but the system boots and reports that ECC functionality is disabled. What is the most likely reason for this?

Accepted Answer

The CPU does not support ECC memory.. ECC functionality requires support at the memory controller level, which is integrated into the CPU on modern platforms. If the CPU does not support ECC, the system will boot with the ECC DIMMs installed but operate in non-ECC mode, reporting ECC as disabled. The motherboard supporting ECC slots is necessary but not sufficient — the CPU and chipset must also support it.

Answer

The ECC RAM is not seated properly.

Answer

The BIOS needs to be updated to enable ECC support.

Answer

ECC RAM requires a registered (buffered) type to function.

Question 11

A technician is troubleshooting a desktop PC that displays vertical colored lines across the screen immediately after booting. The lines appear even before the operating system loads. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The graphics card is failing or has defective video memory.. Vertical lines appearing during POST (pre-OS) indicate a hardware-level issue, most commonly a failing graphics card (GPU) or a damaged video memory. Since the problem occurs before Windows loads, it is not a driver or software issue. Testing with a known-good GPU or reseating the existing one is the recommended step.

Answer

The monitor's refresh rate is set too high in the BIOS.

Answer

The video cable is not securely connected to the monitor.

Answer

The operating system's display driver is corrupted.

Question 12

A technician is troubleshooting a PC that boots to a black screen with a blinking cursor after the BIOS screen. The system has a single SSD with the OS installed. The BIOS detects the SSD. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The bootloader is corrupted. A black screen with a blinking cursor after POST indicates the BIOS found a bootable device but cannot locate the bootloader. This is often due to a corrupted Master Boot Record (MBR) or GUID Partition Table (GPT). The technician should boot from installation media and use the Startup Repair or bootrec commands to rebuild the bootloader.

Answer

The SSD is not properly formatted

Answer

The RAM is faulty

Answer

The power supply is underpowered

Question 13

A user complains that their computer sometimes fails to boot and emits a series of long beeps. After several attempts, it boots normally. Which motherboard component is most likely failing?

Accepted Answer

The RAM modules. A series of long beeps during POST typically indicates a memory (RAM) issue. Intermittent boot failures with beep codes point to a failing RAM module, a dirty contact, or a loose connection. The beep code is a diagnostic tool from the motherboard's BIOS.

Answer

The CPU

Answer

The power supply

Answer

The hard drive

Question 14

A customer reports that their desktop computer, used for video editing, frequently runs out of memory and slows down. They want to upgrade the RAM but are not sure which type is compatible. The motherboard manual lists support for DDR4-3200 and DDR4-2666. The system currently has two 8 GB DDR4-2666 modules installed. What is the best upgrade to maximize performance and capacity?

Accepted Answer

Replace the two 8 GB modules with two 16 GB DDR4-3200 modules.. To maximize performance and capacity, you should replace the existing slower DDR4-2666 modules with higher-capacity DDR4-3200 modules. The motherboard supports DDR4-3200, so the system can run at the faster speed, and replacing rather than mixing ensures all modules operate at the same speed and timings. Two 16 GB DDR4-3200 modules provide 32 GB total, doubling capacity and increasing memory bandwidth for video editing.

Answer

Add two 8 GB DDR4-3200 modules to the existing RAM.

Answer

Replace the two 8 GB modules with two 16 GB DDR4-2666 modules.

Answer

Add two 16 GB DDR4-2666 modules to the existing RAM.

Question 15

A technician is configuring a new router for a branch office. The ISP provides a public IP of 203.0.113.10/30 for the WAN interface. How many usable IP addresses does the technician have for devices on the WAN link?

Accepted Answer

2. A /30 subnet mask (255.255.255.252) provides 4 total addresses: one network, one broadcast, and two usable. This is commonly used for point-to-point WAN links to conserve public IPs.

Answer

4

Answer

6

Answer

1