220-1201 Practice Test 39 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company plans to migrate a physical server running a legacy application to a virtual machine to reduce hardware costs. The application requires direct access to a proprietary PCIe card installed in the physical server. Which virtualization feature must the hypervisor support to allow the VM to use this card?

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

Accepted Answer

PCI passthrough (VT-d/IOMMU). Direct access to physical hardware like a PCIe card requires hardware passthrough technology, such as Intel VT-d or AMD IOMMU. This allows a VM to directly control the device without going through the hypervisor. The correct answer tests knowledge of advanced virtualization features for hardware compatibility.

Answer

Virtual machine snapshots

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Virtual switch VLAN tagging

Answer

Virtual machine migration (vMotion)

Question 2

A customer reports that their desktop PC will not power on at all. The power supply fan does not spin, and no LEDs light up. You have verified the wall outlet is working. Which motherboard component is most likely preventing the system from starting?

Accepted Answer

Front panel header. The CMOS battery is not involved in the power-on process; it only maintains BIOS settings. The chipset and CPU are not directly responsible for the initial power-up sequence. The power-on process begins with the power button connecting to the front panel header, and if that connection is faulty, the motherboard never receives the signal to start the PSU.

Answer

CMOS battery

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Chipset heatsink

Answer

CPU socket

Question 3

A company deploys a new multifunction printer that supports both USB and network connectivity. The printer is installed in a conference room and must be accessible to all employees on the same subnet. Which connection method should the technician use?

Accepted Answer

Connect the printer to the network using an Ethernet cable. This question assesses understanding of connectivity options for shared multifunction devices. A network connection (Ethernet) allows multiple users on the same subnet to access the printer simultaneously. USB is limited to a single directly connected computer.

Answer

Connect the printer via USB to the nearest workstation

Answer

Use a USB-to-Ethernet adapter

Answer

Enable Wi-Fi Direct on the printer

Question 4

A small office has several desktop PCs that are experiencing intermittent blue screen errors, especially when running multiple applications. The IT support team suspects faulty RAM. Which tool should they use to test the memory modules?

Accepted Answer

Windows Memory Diagnostic.. Windows Memory Diagnostic is a built-in tool in Windows that performs a thorough test of installed RAM to detect errors. It can be run from the boot menu or within Windows and is the standard first step for diagnosing memory issues. Other tools like MemTest86 are also common, but Windows Memory Diagnostic is readily available without additional downloads.

Answer

Task Manager.

Answer

CHKDSK.

Answer

System Configuration (msconfig).

Question 5

A user reports that their external hard drive, formatted as NTFS, is not showing up in Windows Explorer but is visible in Disk Management as 'Not Initialized'. The drive was working yesterday. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The drive's partition table is corrupted.. A 'Not Initialized' status indicates the disk's partition table or signature is missing or corrupted. This often happens due to improper ejection or sudden power loss, causing logical corruption of the disk structure.

Answer

The USB cable is defective.

Answer

The drive needs a new driver.

Answer

The drive has a physical head crash.

Question 6

A user reports that their laptop screen flickers intermittently, especially when the lid is moved. The flickering stops when an external monitor is connected. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The display cable is loose or damaged.. Intermittent flickering when moving the lid points to a loose or damaged display cable (LVDS or eDP) connecting the motherboard to the screen. The external monitor works because it bypasses this internal connection.

Answer

The graphics driver is outdated.

Answer

The inverter board is failing.

Answer

The LCD panel is failing.

Question 7

A technician is troubleshooting a desktop that fails to boot and displays 'No bootable device' after a power outage. The system has a single SATA SSD for the OS and a separate HDD for data. The BIOS detects both drives. What should the technician check first?

Accepted Answer

Check the boot order in BIOS/UEFI.. After a power outage, the boot order in BIOS can reset to defaults, causing the system to try booting from the wrong drive. This tests understanding of BIOS/UEFI boot settings.

Answer

Replace the SATA cable for the SSD.

Answer

Run a CHKDSK on the HDD.

Answer

Replace the CMOS battery.

Question 8

A user reports that their computer will not boot and displays an 'Operating System Not Found' error. They recently installed a new SATA SSD and connected it to the motherboard. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The boot order in BIOS is not set to the new SSD.. If the boot order is not set to the new SSD, the system may try to boot from another drive or nothing, causing the error. The SSD itself is likely fine, and cables are usually detected if properly connected.

Answer

The SATA cable is faulty.

Answer

The SSD is not compatible with the motherboard.

Answer

The SSD needs to be formatted before use.

Question 9

You are configuring a dual-monitor setup for a financial analyst. After connecting both monitors, one display shows a distorted, stretched image while the other works perfectly. Both monitors are identical 1920x1080 models. What is the most efficient troubleshooting step?

Accepted Answer

Change the resolution of the distorted monitor to 1920x1080 in Windows Display Settings.. A distorted, stretched image on one monitor suggests the display resolution is set incorrectly for that specific monitor. In a dual setup, Windows may assign different resolutions per monitor. Adjusting the resolution in Display Settings for the affected monitor will correct the aspect ratio.

Answer

Swap the video cables between the two monitors.

Answer

Update the graphics driver from the manufacturer's website.

Answer

Replace the monitor with a different model.

Question 10

A user reports that their Android smartphone's touchscreen is unresponsive after they dropped it. The screen is not cracked, and the device powers on normally. Which of the following is the most likely cause of the touchscreen issue?

Accepted Answer

The digitizer is damaged. A drop can easily damage the digitizer layer, which is responsible for detecting touch input, even if the glass display remains intact. The LCD/OLED panel may still function for display, but without a working digitizer, touch input will not register.

Answer

The LCD panel is damaged

Answer

The battery is swollen

Answer

The operating system is corrupted

Question 11

A customer reports that their Android smartphone's screen remains black when they press the power button, but the device vibrates when receiving calls. They have already tried a force restart by holding Power+Volume Down for 15 seconds. What should you do next to isolate the issue?

Accepted Answer

Connect the phone to a known-good external monitor via USB-C to test video output.. This scenario points to a display or backlight failure, not a total system crash. The device is operational (vibrates), so the problem is likely with the LCD, backlight, or display cable. Testing with an external display or checking for physical damage is the logical next step.

Answer

Replace the battery immediately.

Answer

Perform a factory reset from recovery mode.

Answer

Reinstall the operating system using a PC.

Question 12

A user reports that their USB 3.0 external hard drive is transferring data at very slow speeds, around 30 MB/s, when connected to a front-panel USB port. The same drive works at expected speeds (over 100 MB/s) on a rear USB port. Which connector-related issue is most likely?

Accepted Answer

The front-panel USB port is only USB 2.0, limiting speed.. Front-panel USB ports are often connected via internal headers that may only support USB 2.0 speeds, especially in older cases. This tests understanding that USB 3.0 requires a blue port and proper internal cabling for full speed.

Answer

The USB cable is damaged and needs replacement.

Answer

The external hard drive is not compatible with USB 3.0.

Answer

The front-panel USB port is not receiving enough power.

Question 13

A customer reports that their desktop PC emits a series of long, continuous beeps and the screen remains blank. They recently installed a new graphics card. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The RAM module is loose or faulty.. A series of long, continuous beeps typically indicates a memory (RAM) issue, not a graphics card problem. This is a common POST code that helps isolate hardware faults before the system can boot.

Answer

The graphics card is not seated properly.

Answer

The power supply unit is failing.

Answer

The monitor is not connected to the graphics card.

Question 14

A technician is deploying a new workstation in a retail store. After connecting all peripherals and power, the system powers on but the monitor shows 'No Signal'. The monitor is connected via VGA to the motherboard. What should the technician check first?

Accepted Answer

Connect the monitor to the discrete graphics card's video port.. When a system has a dedicated GPU, the motherboard video ports are often disabled. The most common oversight is connecting the monitor to the wrong port. This scenario tests basic hardware installation knowledge.

Answer

Replace the VGA cable.

Answer

Reseat the RAM modules.

Answer

Update the motherboard BIOS.

Question 15

You are building a workstation for video editing and need to install a dedicated GPU in the primary PCIe x16 slot. After installation, the system boots but the GPU is not detected in Device Manager. The GPU works fine in another PC. What should you check on the motherboard?

Accepted Answer

The motherboard's BIOS setting for the PCIe slot. If the GPU is not detected, the most likely motherboard-related cause is that the PCIe slot is disabled in BIOS or the slot itself is faulty. Another possibility is that the slot is configured for a different device (e.g., an M.2 drive sharing lanes). Verifying BIOS settings is the first step.

Answer

The PCIe slot's power delivery from the PSU

Answer

The CMOS battery voltage

Answer

The CPU fan header