220-1201 Hard Questions — 25 Difficult Questions

Question 1

A user wants to connect their smartphone to a car's stereo system that only has an auxiliary input (3.5mm jack). The smartphone has a USB-C port and no headphone jack. Which accessory is required?

Accepted Answer

A USB-C to 3.5mm adapter.. The car stereo only has a 3.5mm auxiliary input, so the smartphone's audio output must be converted to analog audio. A USB-C to 3.5mm adapter contains a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that converts the smartphone's digital audio signal into an analog signal that the car stereo can accept through the 3.5mm jack.

Answer

A USB-C to USB-A cable.

Answer

A Bluetooth FM transmitter.

Answer

A 3.5mm extension cable.

Question 2

A technician is troubleshooting a network where users on one floor cannot access a server on another floor. Both floors are connected via a single fiber optic link. The technician checks the link and sees the switch port shows 'err-disabled' status. What is the most likely cause of this state?

Accepted Answer

Port security has been violated. The 'err-disabled' state on a switch port is commonly triggered by a port security violation. When a device attempts to connect with a MAC address that exceeds the configured maximum or is not on the allowed list, the switch disables the port to prevent unauthorized access. This matches the scenario where users on one floor cannot reach a server, as the link is physically intact but logically blocked.

Answer

The fiber cable is damaged

Answer

A duplex mismatch exists between the switches

Answer

The VLAN configuration is incorrect

Question 3

A technician is configuring a network for a new branch office. The branch has 50 users and needs to access resources at the main office via a secure tunnel over the internet. Which service is required to establish this connection?

Accepted Answer

VPN. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is required to create a secure, encrypted tunnel over the internet between the branch office and the main office. This allows the 50 users to access internal resources at the main office as if they were on the same local network, using protocols such as IPsec or SSL/TLS to ensure confidentiality and integrity of data in transit.

Answer

DHCP

Answer

DNS

Answer

NAT

Question 4

A technician is setting up a temporary network for a conference where attendees' laptops need to share files directly without any central access point or router. The conference room has no existing network infrastructure. Which network type should be configured, and what is a potential security risk?

Accepted Answer

Ad hoc network; each laptop connects directly to others, but encryption may not be enforced.. An ad hoc network (IBSS) allows laptops to communicate directly without a central access point, which matches the requirement for direct file sharing with no existing infrastructure. The security risk is that encryption (like WEP or WPA2-Personal) may not be enforced by default in ad hoc mode, leaving data transmissions vulnerable to eavesdropping.

Answer

Infrastructure mode WLAN; configure a laptop as a software access point.

Answer

PAN network using Bluetooth; all laptops pair via Bluetooth.

Answer

Mesh network; each laptop acts as a node forwarding traffic.

Question 5

A technician is configuring a kiosk that uses a tablet to display digital signage. The tablet must be powered continuously and connected to a wired network for reliability. The tablet has a single USB-C port. How should the technician provide both power and network connectivity?

Accepted Answer

Connect a USB-C hub that provides both Ethernet and Power Delivery charging.. A USB-C hub with Power Delivery (PD) and Ethernet allows the tablet to receive both power and wired network connectivity through a single USB-C port. USB-C PD supports up to 100W (20V/5A) for charging, while the hub's Ethernet controller provides a stable wired network connection, meeting the requirements for continuous power and reliability.

Answer

Use a USB-C to Ethernet adapter and charge the tablet wirelessly.

Answer

Use a Wi-Fi connection and a standard USB-C charger.

Answer

Connect the tablet to the network via Bluetooth tethering to a phone.

Question 6

A user reports that their multifunction printer makes a loud grinding noise when printing, and the output has vertical black streaks. The technician has already replaced the toner cartridge. What component is most likely failing?

Accepted Answer

The imaging drum. This question tests advanced troubleshooting of laser printer mechanical issues. The imaging drum is a common wear item that can cause grinding noises and vertical streaks when damaged. The fuser or pickup rollers would produce different symptoms.

Answer

The fuser assembly

Answer

The pickup rollers

Answer

The transfer roller

Question 7

A network engineer is designing a new data center and needs to connect multiple servers to a core switch with redundant paths. To prevent loops while allowing failover, which networking hardware feature should be implemented?

Accepted Answer

Enable Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) on all switches.. Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) is the correct choice because it provides loop prevention in redundant switch topologies while offering faster convergence than classic STP. In a data center with multiple servers connected to a core switch via redundant paths, RSTP (IEEE 802.1w) ensures that only one active path exists at a time, blocking redundant links to prevent broadcast storms and MAC table instability, yet automatically unblocking them if the primary path fails.

Answer

Enable Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) on the server connections.

Answer

Use a hub instead of a switch for the core connection.

Answer

Configure all switch ports as access ports.

Question 8

A network administrator is designing a new subnet scheme for a company with 4 departments: Sales (50 devices), HR (25 devices), IT (10 devices), and Management (5 devices). The company uses the 10.0.0.0/8 network. To minimize wasted IP addresses, which subnet mask should be used for the Sales department?

Accepted Answer

255.255.255.192. The Sales department requires 50 usable IP addresses. A /26 subnet mask (255.255.255.192) provides 64 total addresses, with 62 usable addresses (2^6 - 2 = 62), which is the smallest subnet that can accommodate 50 devices without wasting IPs. This aligns with the goal of minimizing wasted addresses in the 10.0.0.0/8 network.

Answer

255.255.255.0

Answer

255.255.255.224

Answer

255.255.255.240

Question 9

A technician is troubleshooting a server that uses a RAID 6 array with six 4 TB HDDs. One drive fails, and after replacement, the rebuild process is taking much longer than expected. The array is still online. What is the most likely reason for the slow rebuild?

Accepted Answer

The large capacity of the drives and the double parity overhead are causing the slow rebuild.. RAID 6 uses double parity, requiring more calculations during rebuild. Additionally, large-capacity drives (4 TB) take longer to rebuild because the entire drive surface must be read and written. The rebuild process also competes with normal I/O, slowing it further.

Answer

The replacement drive is of a different RPM.

Answer

The RAID controller is faulty.

Answer

The array is performing background consistency checks.

Question 10

A technician is troubleshooting a laptop that shuts down randomly after a few minutes of use. The fan is spinning, and the vents are clear. The CPU temperature reaches 95°C quickly. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The thermal paste between the CPU and heatsink has dried out.. High CPU temperature despite a spinning fan indicates poor thermal transfer, often due to dried-out thermal paste or a heatsink that is not making proper contact. Reapplying thermal paste and reseating the heatsink is the solution. The fan working rules out a fan failure.

Answer

The fan is running at low speed due to a faulty fan controller.

Answer

The CPU is faulty and needs replacement.

Answer

The BIOS is set to an aggressive power-saving mode.

Question 11

A technician is troubleshooting a smartphone that cannot establish an NFC connection with a payment terminal. The phone's NFC is enabled, and the screen is unlocked. The payment terminal shows 'No card detected'. Which of the following should the technician check first?

Accepted Answer

The phone's NFC antenna location and alignment with the terminal. NFC requires close proximity and correct orientation; many phones have the NFC antenna located near the top or back. This tests practical knowledge of NFC hardware placement and the need for precise alignment.

Answer

The phone's battery level

Answer

The payment terminal's internet connection

Answer

The phone's default payment app settings

Question 12

A user reports that their laptop's Bluetooth mouse stops working after the laptop wakes from sleep. The mouse works fine after a reboot. The technician suspects a driver issue. Which of the following steps should the technician take to resolve this without disrupting other Bluetooth devices?

Accepted Answer

Disable and re-enable the Bluetooth adapter in Device Manager.. Disabling and re-enabling the Bluetooth adapter in Device Manager resets the Bluetooth stack without a full reboot, often restoring functionality after sleep. This tests advanced troubleshooting of Bluetooth power management issues.

Answer

Uninstall the mouse driver and reboot.

Answer

Change the mouse's Bluetooth pairing to a different channel.

Answer

Update the laptop's BIOS to the latest version.

Question 13

A user has a laptop that supports Thunderbolt 3 and wants to connect two external 4K monitors at full resolution. They currently have a single USB-C hub that only supports DisplayPort over USB-C. What is the most likely limitation?

Accepted Answer

The hub does not support Thunderbolt 3 bandwidth.. Thunderbolt 3 supports up to 40 Gbps bandwidth, which is required to drive two 4K monitors at full resolution (60 Hz) over a single connection. A standard USB-C hub that only supports DisplayPort over USB-C is limited to USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) or USB 3.2 (20 Gbps) bandwidth, which is insufficient to carry two uncompressed 4K video streams simultaneously. Therefore, the hub itself is the bottleneck because it lacks Thunderbolt 3 controller and bandwidth capabilities.

Answer

The laptop's graphics card cannot drive two 4K monitors.

Answer

The monitors are not compatible with USB-C.

Answer

The user needs a USB-C to HDMI adapter for each monitor.

Question 14

A technician is troubleshooting a VoIP phone that intermittently drops calls. The phone uses SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) for signaling and RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol) for audio. Which ports are typically used by these protocols?

Accepted Answer

SIP: 5060, RTP: 16384-32767. SIP typically uses port 5060 (UDP or TCP) for signaling, and RTP uses a range of UDP ports (often 16384-32767) for audio streams. Port 80 is HTTP, port 443 is HTTPS, and port 1720 is H.323 (another VoIP protocol).

Answer

SIP: 80, RTP: 443

Answer

SIP: 1720, RTP: 5060

Answer

SIP: 443, RTP: 80

Question 15

During a security audit, a technician discovers that an internal web server is responding on port 8080 instead of the standard HTTP port. What is the most likely reason for this configuration?

Accepted Answer

The server is configured as a web proxy or alternate HTTP server.. Port 8080 is commonly used as an alternate HTTP port, often for web proxy servers or secondary HTTP servers. This allows administrators to run a separate HTTP service without conflicting with the standard port 80, which is frequently used for caching proxies or development environments.

Answer

The server is running HTTPS on a non-standard port.

Answer

The server is running an FTP service.

Answer

The server is using a custom application protocol.

Question 16

A technician is configuring a new database server that needs to accept remote connections from client applications using the default port for MySQL. Which port should be opened in the firewall?

Accepted Answer

3306. MySQL uses port 3306 by default for client connections. Opening this port allows remote database access.

Answer

1433

Answer

1521

Answer

5432

Question 17

A company deploys a new VoIP system. Users report that calls drop frequently. The network uses a single flat subnet with no QoS configured. The technician monitors traffic and sees high bandwidth utilization during peak hours. What is the most effective solution to improve call quality?

Accepted Answer

Replace all switches with managed switches and enable QoS. This question tests knowledge of Quality of Service (QoS) and network segmentation. VoIP traffic is sensitive to latency and jitter. Implementing QoS prioritizes voice traffic over other data, ensuring call quality even during high utilization. VLANs can also help by separating voice and data traffic.

Answer

Increase the bandwidth of the internet connection

Answer

Change all VoIP phones to use static IP addresses

Answer

Disable DHCP on the network to reduce broadcast traffic

Question 18

A company's IT policy requires that all network traffic from the guest Wi-Fi be isolated from the internal corporate network. The guest network uses a separate SSID and VLAN. Which additional configuration is necessary to ensure complete isolation?

Accepted Answer

Implement an ACL that denies traffic from the guest VLAN to the corporate VLAN. Access Control Lists (ACLs) on the router or firewall can block traffic between VLANs. Even with separate VLANs, inter-VLAN routing must be explicitly denied to prevent guest devices from reaching the corporate network.

Answer

Enable DHCP snooping on the guest VLAN

Answer

Configure a router-on-a-stick with subinterfaces

Answer

Set the guest network to use a different subnet mask

Question 19

A technician is troubleshooting a network where users on one floor cannot communicate with users on another floor. Both floors are connected to the same switch via separate VLANs configured for security. What additional device is needed to allow communication between the VLANs?

Accepted Answer

A router or Layer 3 switch. VLANs segment a network into separate broadcast domains, and by default, they cannot communicate with each other. A Layer 3 device, such as a router or a Layer 3 switch, is required to route traffic between VLANs. A Layer 2 switch cannot perform routing. The correct answer is a router or a Layer 3 switch.

Answer

A hub

Answer

A Layer 2 switch

Answer

A bridge

Question 20

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.. This question tests knowledge of network topology and the use of additional switches. Since the router has only one LAN port, a switch is needed to expand the number of available ports. The correct answer is to connect the router to the switch, and then connect the WAP to the switch. The switch's ports are typically all the same, so no special uplink port is required (modern switches use Auto-MDIX).

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.