220-1101 BIOS / UEFI Practice Test 2 — 15 Questions

Question 1

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.

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The discrete GPU is not seated properly.

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The CPU has failed or is overheating.

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The BIOS battery is dead.

Question 2

A customer reports that their new desktop PC runs for exactly 30 minutes and then shuts down. After the shutdown, the system won't power back on for several minutes. What is the most likely BIOS/UEFI-related cause of this behavior?

Accepted Answer

The BIOS thermal protection feature is triggering due to CPU overheating.. This scenario describes thermal shutdown protection. The BIOS/UEFI monitors CPU temperature via sensors and will shut down the system to prevent damage if temperatures exceed safe thresholds. The delay before restarting allows the CPU to cool down.

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The BIOS has a power-on password enabled.

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The BIOS is set to the wrong CPU multiplier.

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The UEFI boot order is set to network boot first.

Question 3

During a system boot, a user sees an error message: 'CMOS checksum error - Defaults loaded.' The system then boots normally but loses the date and time settings after power-off. What is the most likely hardware failure?

Accepted Answer

The motherboard's CMOS battery is depleted or failing.. The CMOS checksum error indicates that the BIOS settings are corrupted or not being retained. The date/time resetting after power-off points to a failing or dead CMOS battery, which powers the volatile memory that stores these settings when the system is off.

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The UEFI firmware has become corrupted and needs reflashing.

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The power supply unit is not providing enough standby power.

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The hard drive is failing and corrupting the boot sector.

Question 4

A technician is tasked with securing a workstation that will be used in a public kiosk. The requirement is that the system must only boot from the internal SSD and must prevent booting from USB drives or optical media. Which UEFI security feature should be configured?

Accepted Answer

Disable all external boot devices in the UEFI boot order and set a supervisor password.. To prevent unauthorized booting from external media, the technician must set a boot order that prioritizes the internal SSD and disable other boot devices. Additionally, setting a UEFI administrator password prevents unauthorized users from changing these settings.

Answer

Enable Secure Boot and set a UEFI administrator password.

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Set the boot mode to Legacy BIOS and disable USB support.

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Enable the TPM and set a power-on password.

Question 5

A technician is configuring a new workstation and needs to ensure the system can address more than 4 GB of RAM. The motherboard supports 16 GB of DDR4 memory. Which UEFI setting must be verified to ensure the OS can use all installed memory?

Accepted Answer

Enable the 'Memory Remap' feature in the UEFI.. For systems with more than 4 GB of RAM, the OS must be 64-bit, and the firmware must have memory remapping enabled. This feature allows the UEFI to reassign memory addresses previously reserved for PCI devices, making the full RAM capacity available to the OS.

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Set the boot mode to Legacy BIOS instead of UEFI.

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Disable the integrated graphics in the UEFI.

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Change the SATA mode from AHCI to RAID.

Question 6

A user complains that their computer boots slowly and shows a 'Press F1 to continue' message every time. The firmware settings appear to have lost their configuration. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The CMOS battery is failing. A failing or depleted CMOS battery cannot retain BIOS settings, causing defaults to load and often requiring user intervention at boot. This is a common issue that leads to the 'Press F1' prompt. The question tests understanding of CMOS battery function in maintaining firmware settings.

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The boot order is incorrect

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The hard drive is failing

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The BIOS version is outdated

Question 7

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

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Enable Secure Boot

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Enable SATA hot-plug

Question 8

A user reports that their computer suddenly cannot find the boot device, and the BIOS shows the SATA mode is set to 'IDE' instead of 'AHCI'. The drive was previously working. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The SATA mode was changed to IDE. If the SATA mode is changed from AHCI to IDE, the OS driver may not load, causing a boot failure. This can happen after a CMOS reset or accidental BIOS change. The question tests understanding of SATA controller modes and their impact on booting.

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The hard drive has failed

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The SATA cable is loose

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The CMOS battery is failing

Question 9

A technician is tasked with enabling virtualization on a desktop to run a hypervisor. After enabling the feature in the OS, the hypervisor still reports that virtualization is disabled. What should be checked in the firmware?

Accepted Answer

Enable Intel VT-x or AMD-V in the BIOS/UEFI. Virtualization support must be enabled in the CPU's firmware settings (e.g., Intel VT-x or AMD-V) before the OS can use it. The OS setting alone is insufficient. This question tests knowledge of firmware-level CPU features.

Answer

Enable Secure Boot

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Disable Hyper-Threading

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Update the chipset drivers

Question 10

During a BIOS update on a workstation, the power is interrupted, and now the system fails to POST. The motherboard has a backup BIOS chip. What is the most efficient way to recover the system?

Accepted Answer

Switch the motherboard's dual BIOS jumper to the backup position. Many motherboards have a dual BIOS feature where a backup chip stores a factory-default firmware. Switching to the backup BIOS restores functionality without needing external tools. This scenario tests knowledge of BIOS recovery mechanisms and the importance of redundant firmware.

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Replace the motherboard

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Use a USB flash drive with the correct BIOS file and press a recovery key combination

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Remove the CMOS battery for 30 minutes

Question 11

A technician is configuring a new server and needs to ensure that only signed operating system bootloaders can be loaded. Which UEFI feature should be enabled?

Accepted Answer

Enable Secure Boot. Secure Boot enforces cryptographic verification of bootloaders, preventing unauthorized code from running during boot. This is a key security feature in UEFI. The question tests understanding of Secure Boot's purpose and implementation.

Answer

Enable Fast Boot

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Enable Legacy Boot

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Enable Boot from USB

Question 12

After replacing a CPU in a desktop, the system powers on but shows a black screen with no POST. The old CPU worked fine. Which BIOS-related step should be taken first?

Accepted Answer

Update the BIOS to a version that supports the new CPU. Many motherboards require a BIOS update to support newer CPU microcode. Without it, the system cannot initialize the CPU. This question tests knowledge of CPU compatibility and the role of firmware updates in hardware support.

Answer

Reset the CMOS by removing the battery

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Check the CPU power cable connection

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Enable legacy boot mode

Question 13

A customer reports that their computer beeps three times, pauses, then repeats, and nothing is displayed on the screen. What does this POST code typically indicate?

Accepted Answer

Memory error. Three beeps in many BIOS versions (especially AMI and Award) indicate a memory error, such as a faulty or improperly seated RAM module. This is a standard POST diagnostic code. The question tests basic familiarity with beep codes.

Answer

CPU failure

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Graphics card failure

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Power supply failure

Question 14

A technician needs to install Windows 10 on a new PC with a 2 TB hard drive. The motherboard supports UEFI with GPT. Which partition scheme and boot mode should be used to support the full drive capacity?

Accepted Answer

UEFI with GPT. UEFI requires GPT partition table to boot, and GPT supports drives larger than 2 TB. Legacy BIOS with MBR cannot address beyond 2 TB. This question reinforces the relationship between UEFI and GPT for large drives.

Answer

UEFI with MBR

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Legacy BIOS with GPT

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Legacy BIOS with MBR

Question 15

A technician is upgrading a workstation from a 500 GB HDD to a 1 TB SSD. After installing the SSD, the system boots into the old OS from the HDD instead of the new SSD. The boot order in UEFI shows only the HDD. What is the most likely reason?

Accepted Answer

The SSD is not partitioned with GPT or lacks an EFI system partition. The SSD may not be initialized with a GPT partition table or may lack an EFI system partition, making it invisible to the UEFI boot manager. The technician should check the partition style and ensure the SSD is properly formatted for UEFI boot. This question tests advanced knowledge of UEFI boot requirements.

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The SSD is not connected to the fastest SATA port

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The HDD has a higher priority in the boot order

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The SSD needs a firmware update