220-1201 Practice Test 46 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A technician is troubleshooting a PC that will not boot after a power surge. The motherboard has a built-in diagnostic LED that shows a red light near the DRAM slot. The user had recently upgraded the RAM. What is the most likely cause?

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

Accepted Answer

The new RAM module is not compatible with the motherboard.. A red LED near the DRAM slot indicates a memory-related issue. After a power surge, the RAM could be damaged, or the new RAM might have been improperly seated. However, since the user recently upgraded, the most likely cause is that the new RAM is not compatible or is faulty.

Answer

The power surge damaged the motherboard's memory controller.

Answer

The power surge corrupted the BIOS firmware.

Answer

The RAM is not seated in the correct slots for dual-channel mode.

Question 2

A user's PC is running very slowly, and the hard drive activity LED is constantly lit even when idle. Task Manager shows 100% disk usage. Which component is most likely failing?

Accepted Answer

Failing hard drive. Constant 100% disk usage with no corresponding high CPU or memory usage is a classic sign of a failing hard drive, often due to bad sectors or mechanical wear. While a slow drive can be caused by malware or fragmentation, hardware failure is the primary suspect in this scenario.

Answer

Insufficient RAM

Answer

CPU overheating

Answer

Malware infection

Question 3

A user reports that their desktop computer's display is very dim, even at maximum brightness settings. The monitor is an older LCD model with a CCFL backlight. What component is most likely failing?

Accepted Answer

The inverter board. The inverter board is responsible for converting DC power from the power supply into the high-voltage AC required to drive the CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lamp) backlight in older LCD monitors. When the inverter fails, the backlight either dims significantly or fails entirely, even though the LCD panel itself may still be receiving a valid video signal and the brightness controls appear to function. This matches the symptom of a very dim display at maximum brightness settings.

Answer

The LCD panel itself

Answer

The video cable

Answer

The power supply unit

Question 4

A company uses a cloud-based virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution. Users report that logging in takes 5 minutes during peak hours. The IT team notices that the cloud provider's resource utilization is at 95%. Which action would best resolve this issue?

Accepted Answer

Scale out by adding more virtual desktops. When a cloud provider's resource utilization is at 95%, the underlying physical infrastructure is saturated. Scaling up (vertical scaling) increases the VM's resources but does not alleviate the host-level bottleneck; the provider may not allow further scaling. Scaling out (horizontal scaling) adds more virtual desktop instances, distributing the load across additional VMs and reducing login times. Migrating providers is disruptive, and disabling auto-scaling worsens performance.

Answer

Migrate to a different cloud provider

Answer

Scale up the virtual machines by increasing CPU and RAM

Answer

Disable automatic scaling

Question 5

A technician is tasked with setting up a RAID 10 array using four 500 GB HDDs for a database server. After configuration, the total capacity shown is 1 TB instead of the expected 1.5 TB. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The array is configured correctly; RAID 10 provides 1 TB usable.. RAID 10 (1+0) mirrors and then stripes, so usable capacity is half of total raw capacity (4 x 500 GB = 2 TB raw, 1 TB usable). The technician likely expected RAID 5 capacity (75% usable) but configured RAID 10.

Answer

One of the drives is only 250 GB.

Answer

The array was accidentally configured as RAID 0.

Answer

The controller is using a different stripe size.

Question 6

During a routine check, a technician finds that a RAID 0 array with two SSDs is no longer bootable. The BIOS detects both SSDs individually but the array is missing from the RAID controller. What is the most likely issue?

Accepted Answer

The RAID metadata has been corrupted.. RAID 0 stripes data across drives with no parity. If the array metadata is corrupted or one drive fails, the entire array becomes inaccessible. Individual detection suggests the drives are physically okay, but the RAID configuration is lost.

Answer

One of the SSDs has failed completely.

Answer

The RAID controller has failed.

Answer

The SATA cables are swapped.

Question 7

A technician is troubleshooting a PC that will not boot after a power surge. The motherboard has a built-in diagnostic LED that shows a red light near the DRAM slot. The user had recently upgraded the RAM. What is the most likely cause?

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

Accepted Answer

The SATA controller mode in BIOS is set to IDE, but the SSD requires AHCI.. The 'INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE' error typically indicates that the boot loader cannot access the storage device. After cloning, this often occurs because the boot mode (UEFI vs. Legacy) or SATA controller mode (AHCI vs. IDE) is mismatched between the old and new drives.

Answer

The SSD is not properly connected to the SATA port.

Answer

The boot order is set to the HDD instead of the SSD.

Answer

The SSD is not partitioned correctly.

Question 8

A user reports that their PC powers on for a second then immediately shuts off. This repeats in a loop. What is the most likely hardware issue?

Accepted Answer

Incorrectly installed motherboard standoffs causing a short. The power-on-then-off loop is a classic symptom of a short circuit or power issue, often caused by a loose standoff, improperly seated component, or a failing power supply. The most common cause is a short to ground from a motherboard standoff in the wrong location.

Answer

Defective CPU

Answer

Overheated GPU

Answer

Corrupted BIOS

Question 9

A user reports that their desktop PC emits a series of short beeps and fails to boot. The monitor shows no display, and the keyboard and mouse LEDs are off. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

Loose or faulty RAM module. A series of short beeps during POST typically indicates a memory (RAM) failure. The lack of display and peripheral response points to a hardware fault that prevents the system from completing POST, and RAM is the most common culprit.

Answer

Faulty power supply unit

Answer

Defective hard drive

Answer

Overheated CPU

Question 10

A technician is setting up a new file server with four 4 TB SATA SSDs. The customer requires maximum read performance and fault tolerance for up to two drive failures. Which RAID level should the technician choose?

Accepted Answer

RAID 6. RAID 6 stripes data and uses dual parity, allowing up to two drive failures while maintaining good read performance. This question tests knowledge of RAID levels and their fault tolerance capabilities.

Answer

RAID 0

Answer

RAID 1

Answer

RAID 5

Question 11

A user reports that their PC boots to a black screen with a blinking cursor after installing a new SSD. The BIOS detects the SSD, but the system does not load the operating system. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The boot order in BIOS is set to the old drive first.. A blinking cursor after POST often indicates the system cannot find a bootable operating system. This commonly happens when the boot order is incorrect or the new SSD is not set as the first boot device.

Answer

The SSD is not compatible with the motherboard.

Answer

The SATA cable is faulty.

Answer

The SSD needs to be partitioned.

Question 12

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.. This question tests DNS resolution. If the IP works but the hostname does not, the problem is with DNS—either the server's A record is missing or the DNS server is not responding for that zone.

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 13

A small business is moving to a new office and wants to connect all their computers, printers, and a server. They have a limited budget and need a simple, wired network that does not require internet access initially. Which network type should they implement?

Accepted Answer

Local Area Network (LAN). A Local Area Network (LAN) is the correct choice because it connects devices within a single physical location, such as an office, using wired Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) and switches. It requires no internet access and is cost-effective for a small business with a limited budget, as it only needs basic hardware like a switch and Cat5e/Cat6 cabling.

Answer

Wide Area Network (WAN)

Answer

Personal Area Network (PAN)

Answer

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

Question 14

A customer complains that their desktop computer loses network connectivity every time a large file is transferred. The issue does not occur during normal web browsing. What hardware component is most likely at fault?

Accepted Answer

The network interface card (NIC) is failing.. This is a classic symptom of a failing or overheating network interface card (NIC). High data throughput generates heat, and a marginal NIC may fail under sustained load, while low-bandwidth tasks work fine.

Answer

The CPU is overheating.

Answer

The power supply unit is underpowered.

Answer

The Ethernet cable is too long.

Question 15

During a hardware upgrade, you install a new high-end graphics card and connect a 144Hz gaming monitor via DisplayPort. The monitor is set to 144Hz in Windows, but the screen occasionally goes black for a few seconds during gameplay. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The monitor's refresh rate is set too high for the cable.. Intermittent black screens at high refresh rates often indicate that the DisplayPort cable does not meet the required bandwidth for 144Hz at the monitor's resolution. This can also be caused by power supply issues or driver problems, but cable bandwidth is a common culprit.

Answer

The graphics card is overheating.

Answer

The power supply unit is insufficient.

Answer

The monitor's firmware is outdated.