220-1201 Practice Exam 53 — 20 Questions

Question 1

A user wants to print a high-resolution photo on glossy paper using an inkjet printer. After printing, the colors appear washed out and the photo has a grainy appearance. The printer is set to 'normal' quality and 'plain paper' in the driver. What should the technician change to improve the output?

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

Accepted Answer

Change the paper type to 'glossy photo paper' and the print quality to 'best' or 'photo'.. For high-quality photo prints on glossy paper, the driver must be set to 'photo' or 'best' quality and the paper type to 'glossy' or 'photo paper'. This optimizes ink droplet size and drying time. The default 'normal' and 'plain paper' settings use less ink and different halftoning, causing washed-out, grainy results.

Answer

Replace the ink cartridges with high-yield cartridges.

Answer

Calibrate the printer using the built-in utility.

Answer

Use a different brand of glossy paper.

Question 2

A user complains that their Android tablet's touchscreen is unresponsive in a vertical strip down the middle of the screen, but the rest of the screen works fine. They have restarted the device and removed the screen protector. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The digitizer is damaged.. A vertical strip of unresponsive touch input is a classic sign of a damaged digitizer. The digitizer is the layer that detects touch, and it can be physically damaged (cracked internally) even if the glass appears intact. Software issues typically cause full unresponsiveness or erratic behavior, not a precise dead zone.

Answer

A software glitch in the touchscreen driver.

Answer

The screen protector is causing interference.

Answer

The LCD panel is failing.

Question 3

A small business has several PCs that intermittently reboot or fail to start. The building's electrical system is old, and the technician suspects power quality issues. Which device should the technician recommend installing to protect the computers?

Accepted Answer

An uninterruptible power supply (UPS).. An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) provides battery backup and voltage regulation, protecting against surges, sags, and brownouts that can cause reboots or failures. A surge protector only guards against spikes, not low-voltage conditions. A UPS is the appropriate solution for unstable power.

Answer

A power strip with a surge protector.

Answer

A line conditioner (voltage regulator).

Answer

A dedicated circuit from the breaker panel.

Question 4

A customer complains that their computer will not turn on. The power supply fan does not spin, and the motherboard LED is off. The technician tests the power supply with a multimeter and gets 0V on all pins. What should the technician do next?

Accepted Answer

Check the wall outlet with a voltage tester.. A multimeter reading of 0V on all PSU pins indicates no power output, but this could be due to a dead PSU or lack of AC input. The most logical next step is to verify the wall outlet is supplying power using a voltage tester. If the outlet is good, then the PSU is faulty and should be replaced. Replacing the PSU without checking the outlet first may not resolve the issue if the outlet is dead.

Answer

Replace the motherboard.

Answer

Reseat the 24-pin power connector.

Answer

Replace the power supply with a known-good unit.

Question 5

A company deploys a network where each department has its own switch, and all switches connect to a central core switch. The network uses VLANs to separate traffic for finance, HR, and engineering. Which network type best describes the overall architecture, and what is a key characteristic?

Accepted Answer

Client-server LAN with VLAN segmentation; the core switch routes between VLANs.. The architecture is a client-server LAN because all department switches connect to a central core switch, which provides centralized routing and management. VLAN segmentation isolates traffic for finance, HR, and engineering, and the core switch performs inter-VLAN routing (typically using a router-on-a-stick or Layer 3 switch with SVIs) to allow controlled communication between VLANs. This design is a classic hierarchical LAN topology, not a peer-to-peer, WAN, or MAN.

Answer

Peer-to-peer network; each department shares resources directly.

Answer

Wide area network (WAN); the departments are in different locations.

Answer

Metropolitan area network (MAN); the switches are spread across a city.

Question 6

A technician is troubleshooting a desktop that randomly restarts under heavy load. They suspect the RAM is overheating. What type of RAM cooling solution is most commonly integrated into high-performance memory modules?

Accepted Answer

Heat spreaders (metal fins) on the modules.. High-performance RAM modules often come with heat spreaders—metal fins or covers that dissipate heat from the memory chips. These are passive cooling solutions that increase the surface area for heat dissipation. Active cooling (fans) is less common on standard modules and is usually an aftermarket addition.

Answer

Liquid cooling loops attached to the RAM sticks.

Answer

Small fans mounted directly above the RAM slots.

Answer

Thermal pads that connect RAM to the motherboard heatsink.

Question 7

You are deploying 20 identical office PCs. After imaging one system, you clone the drive to the other 19. However, all cloned systems fail to boot with a 'Boot Device Not Found' error. The original system boots fine. What motherboard setting is most likely causing this?

Accepted Answer

The boot mode is set to Legacy BIOS instead of UEFI. When cloning a system, the boot mode (UEFI vs. Legacy BIOS) must match the motherboard configuration. If the original was set to UEFI but the clones have Legacy mode enabled (or vice versa), the system won't find the bootloader. This is a common deployment pitfall.

Answer

Secure Boot is enabled on the clones

Answer

The SATA mode is set to AHCI on the clones

Answer

The CMOS battery is dead on the clones

Question 8

A user reports that their NFC-enabled smartphone cannot make contactless payments at a terminal that works with other phones. The user has a thick wallet case with metal credit cards. What is the most likely issue?

Accepted Answer

The wallet case is interfering with the NFC signal.. The thick wallet case with metal credit cards is the most likely cause because metal can block or attenuate the NFC (Near Field Communication) signal, which operates at 13.56 MHz. The case creates a physical barrier that prevents the phone's NFC antenna from establishing the short-range inductive coupling needed for contactless payments, even though the terminal and phone hardware are functional.

Answer

The payment terminal's NFC reader is faulty.

Answer

The phone's NFC antenna is damaged.

Answer

The phone's payment app is not configured correctly.

Question 9

A customer brings in a smartphone with a broken charging port. They want the port replaced. During disassembly, the technician finds that the charging port is soldered directly to the main board. Which tool is essential for this repair?

Accepted Answer

A soldering iron with a fine tip.. The charging port is soldered directly to the main board, requiring a soldering iron with a fine tip to precisely heat and remove the existing solder joints and then re-solder the new port without damaging nearby components. A fine tip allows controlled heat application on small surface-mount pads, which is essential for this type of micro-soldering repair.

Answer

A heat gun with a narrow nozzle.

Answer

A Phillips-head screwdriver.

Answer

A plastic spudger.

Question 10

A network administrator is troubleshooting a slow connection between two buildings connected by a fiber optic link. The link is up but throughput is lower than expected. Which tool should be used to measure the exact signal loss in the fiber?

Accepted Answer

OTDR. An Optical Time-Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) is the correct tool because it sends a series of optical pulses into the fiber and measures the backscattered and reflected light to calculate the exact signal loss (attenuation) at specific points along the link. This allows the administrator to identify splices, bends, or connectors causing excessive loss, which directly explains the low throughput despite the link being up.

Answer

Multimeter

Answer

Tone generator

Answer

Wi-Fi analyzer

Question 11

A technician is troubleshooting a workstation that fails to boot. The motherboard has a 24-pin ATX power connector and an 8-pin CPU power connector. The power supply has a 20+4 pin main connector and a 4+4 pin CPU connector. The technician connects the 20+4 pin to the motherboard correctly, but the system still does not power on. What should the technician check next?

Accepted Answer

The 4+4 pin CPU connector is only using one 4-pin half. The 4+4 pin CPU connector can be used as either a 4-pin or 8-pin connector. The technician must ensure that both 4-pin halves are connected together to form the 8-pin CPU power connector required by the motherboard. If only one 4-pin half is connected, the CPU may not receive power.

Answer

The 20+4 pin connector is not fully seated

Answer

The power supply switch is turned off

Answer

The RAM is not properly seated

Question 12

A user reports that their iPhone 12 will not turn on after being left in a hot car for several hours. The device feels warm, and pressing the power button does nothing. What is the most likely cause of the device not powering on?

Accepted Answer

The device entered a thermal shutdown state to protect internal components. Excessive heat can trigger thermal protection circuits in modern smartphones, causing them to shut down and refuse to power on until they cool down. This is a safety feature to prevent battery or component damage. The correct answer identifies thermal shutdown as the cause.

Answer

The battery has expanded due to heat and disconnected from the logic board

Answer

The device's logic board has been permanently damaged by heat

Answer

The power button is stuck due to heat expansion

Question 13

A technician is troubleshooting a desktop that beeps three times repeatedly and shows a blank screen upon power-on. The system has a discrete GPU installed and two sticks of RAM. What is the most likely cause indicated by the beep code?

Accepted Answer

The RAM is faulty or not properly installed.. Beep codes are used by the BIOS/UEFI to indicate hardware errors during POST. Three beeps typically indicate a memory (RAM) error. The technician should reseat or test the RAM sticks individually to isolate the faulty module.

Answer

The discrete GPU is not seated properly.

Answer

The CPU has failed or is overheating.

Answer

The BIOS battery is dead.

Question 14

A company deploys tablets for field workers to capture signatures on glass screens using a capacitive stylus. Several workers complain that the stylus does not register consistently. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The stylus tip is not conductive.. Capacitive styluses work by transferring a small electrical charge from the user's hand through the conductive tip to the touchscreen, mimicking a finger's touch. If the tip is not conductive, it cannot complete the capacitive coupling, causing inconsistent or no registration. This is the most likely cause given the specific use case of signature capture on glass screens.

Answer

The screen protector is too thick.

Answer

The tablet's touch calibration is off.

Answer

The workers are pressing too lightly.

Question 15

A small office has a single router with four LAN ports. The network uses 192.168.1.0/24. A new printer is assigned a static IP of 192.168.1.256. What will happen when the printer is connected?

Accepted Answer

The printer will not be able to communicate on the network. 192.168.1.256 is an invalid IPv4 address. In IPv4, each octet is an 8-bit number ranging from 0 to 255. The value 256 exceeds this limit, so the address is malformed. The printer will not be able to communicate on the network because its configured IP is outside the valid address space and cannot be used for any network communication.

Answer

The printer will work but only with devices that have a static IP

Answer

The printer will automatically obtain a valid IP via DHCP

Answer

The printer will cause an IP address conflict with the router

Question 16

A customer reports that their new NVMe SSD is not detected by the system, even though it is properly seated. The motherboard supports both UEFI and legacy BIOS. Which firmware setting should be enabled to ensure the NVMe drive is recognized?

Accepted Answer

Enable UEFI boot mode and disable CSM. NVMe drives require UEFI mode because legacy BIOS lacks the necessary driver support for NVMe controllers. Enabling UEFI boot mode and disabling legacy/CSM allows the firmware to initialize the NVMe drive correctly. This question tests understanding of UEFI's role in supporting modern storage interfaces.

Answer

Enable Legacy BIOS mode

Answer

Enable Secure Boot

Answer

Enable SATA hot-plug

Question 17

A user has a laptop that supports USB-C Power Delivery and wants to charge it using a portable power bank while on a flight. The power bank has a USB-A output. Which additional accessory is required?

Accepted Answer

A power bank that supports USB-C Power Delivery output.. The laptop requires USB-C Power Delivery (PD) to negotiate a charging voltage higher than the standard 5V. A power bank with only a USB-A output cannot provide the PD protocol negotiation over USB-A, as PD is a feature of the USB-C connector and its configuration channel (CC) lines. Therefore, a power bank that explicitly supports USB-C PD output is necessary to deliver the higher wattage (e.g., 20V/3A) that the laptop expects for charging.

Answer

A USB-A to USB-C cable.

Answer

A USB-C to USB-C cable.

Answer

A USB-C to HDMI adapter.

Question 18

A company has offices in two different cities and needs to connect their local networks so employees can access centralized resources. They require a secure, high-speed connection over a long distance. Which network type should be used?

Accepted Answer

Wide Area Network (WAN). A Wide Area Network (WAN) is the correct choice because it connects geographically separated networks over long distances, providing the secure, high-speed link required for centralized resource access between two cities. Technologies like MPLS, leased lines (e.g., T1/E1), or VPNs over fiber optic connections are commonly used to implement WANs for such inter-site connectivity.

Answer

Local Area Network (LAN)

Answer

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

Answer

Personal Area Network (PAN)

Question 19

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?

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 20

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.