220-1101 Practice Test 26 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A systems administrator manages a virtualized environment with a Type 1 hypervisor hosting multiple virtual machines (VMs). The physical host has 64 GB of RAM and a 4-core CPU with hyper-threading. The administrator notices that during peak hours, some VMs become slow because others consume a disproportionate share of resources. The administrator wants to configure the hypervisor to combine the physical memory and CPU of the host into a single pool that can be dynamically allocated to VMs as needed. Which virtualization concept BEST describes this capability?

Accepted Answer

Resource pooling. Resource pooling is the virtualization concept where the hypervisor aggregates physical resources (CPU, memory) from the host into a shared pool, then dynamically allocates them to VMs based on demand. In a Type 1 hypervisor, this allows the administrator to set shares, reservations, and limits, ensuring that no single VM can monopolize resources during peak hours. This directly addresses the problem of disproportionate resource consumption by enabling elastic allocation.

Answer

High availability

Answer

Fault tolerance

Answer

Snapshotting

Question 2

A technician installs a new M.2 NVMe SSD into a desktop computer. The motherboard has two M.2 slots: M.2_1 supports PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA modes, and M.2_2 supports PCIe 3.0 x2 and SATA modes. The technician inserts the NVMe SSD into the M.2_2 slot. The computer boots from the existing SATA SSD, but the new NVMe drive is not visible in Disk Management. The BIOS shows that M.2_2 is enabled and set to 'Auto' mode. The technician consults the motherboard manual and discovers that when M.2_2 is used in PCIe mode, SATA port 5 (SATA5) is disabled. Which of the following should the technician do FIRST to resolve the issue?

Accepted Answer

Move the existing SATA SSD from SATA5 to an available SATA port, such as SATA6.. Option A is correct because the motherboard manual states that when M.2_2 is used in PCIe mode, SATA port 5 (SATA5) is disabled. The existing SATA SSD is connected to SATA5, which is now disabled, preventing the NVMe drive from being detected. Moving the SATA SSD to an available SATA port (e.g., SATA6) restores the SATA controller's functionality and allows the NVMe drive to be recognized in Disk Management.

Answer

Change the M.2_2 mode from 'Auto' to 'PCIe' in the BIOS.

Answer

Update the motherboard BIOS to the latest version.

Answer

Insert the NVMe SSD into the M.2_1 slot instead.

Question 3

A technician is building a new desktop computer. After installing the motherboard, CPU, RAM, and graphics card, the technician connects the 24-pin main power cable and all other necessary cables. When the power button is pressed, the fans spin for about one second and then stop. The motherboard's power LED does not illuminate. The technician uses a multimeter and confirms the power supply outputs 12V, 5V, and 3.3V on the appropriate pins of the 24-pin connector. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the issue?

Accepted Answer

The 4/8-pin CPU power connector is not connected.. The 4/8-pin CPU power connector provides dedicated 12V power to the CPU voltage regulator module (VRM). Without it, the CPU receives no power, so the system immediately shuts down after a brief fan spin (due to residual charge or a momentary power-on signal). The multimeter confirms the main 24-pin ATX connector is delivering correct voltages, ruling out a PSU failure.

Answer

The front panel power switch header is connected to the wrong pins.

Answer

The RAM modules are not fully seated in the slots.

Answer

The CMOS battery is depleted and needs replacement.

Question 4

A technician is troubleshooting a workstation that cannot connect to the network. The link light on the NIC is off. The technician tests the Ethernet cable with a cable tester and it passes all four pairs. The workstation is connected to a wall jack that leads to a patch panel in the server room. The technician verifies that the patch cable from the patch panel to the switch is good. Which of the following should the technician do NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Check the port status on the switch. The link light being off indicates no physical layer (Layer 1) connectivity. Since the cable tester passed all four pairs and the patch cable is verified good, the issue likely lies with the switch port itself. Checking the port status on the switch (e.g., using 'show interfaces status' or verifying PoE/administrative shutdown) is the logical next step to confirm if the port is enabled, not error-disabled, or configured correctly.

Answer

Replace the NIC

Answer

Re-terminate the wall jack

Answer

Change the workstation's IP address to static

Question 5

A technician is troubleshooting a workstation that cannot connect to the network. The link light on the network interface card is blinking amber, and the switch port shows no link light. The Ethernet cable run from the workstation to the patch panel is approximately 125 meters. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the connectivity issue?

Accepted Answer

The cable exceeds the maximum segment length for Ethernet.. The Ethernet cable run is 125 meters, which exceeds the IEEE 802.3 maximum segment length of 100 meters for twisted-pair copper cabling (e.g., Cat5e, Cat6). This distance causes signal attenuation and timing issues, preventing the switch port from establishing a link, as indicated by the absence of a link light on the switch and the amber blinking link light on the NIC (which often signals a physical-layer problem).

Answer

The cable is damaged near the connector.

Answer

The network switch is not providing PoE.

Answer

The workstation's NIC is set to a static IP address.

Question 6

A user reports that their Android smartphone's battery drains very quickly, even when the phone is idle. The phone also feels unusually warm near the back cover. The technician has already checked that no apps are running abnormally in the background and the screen brightness is set to auto. Which component is MOST likely faulty?

Accepted Answer

Battery. The battery is the most likely faulty component because a degraded or internally shorted lithium-ion battery can cause rapid self-discharge and excessive heat generation even when the device is idle. The technician has already ruled out abnormal background apps and screen brightness, which isolates the issue to the battery's internal chemistry or protection circuit.

Answer

Charging port

Answer

Display screen

Answer

Processor (SoC)

Question 7

A user reports that their smartphone's battery drains significantly faster than normal and the device feels very hot to the touch, especially during charging. The phone is using a third-party charger and USB cable purchased from a discount store. Which of the following is the BEST first step the technician should recommend?

Accepted Answer

Use the original manufacturer charger and cable. The most likely cause of rapid battery drain and overheating during charging is a non-compliant third-party charger or cable that does not meet the device's power delivery specifications. Using the original manufacturer charger and cable ensures proper voltage and current regulation, preventing excessive heat and inefficient charging that can degrade battery health.

Answer

Replace the smartphone battery

Answer

Perform a factory reset of the phone

Answer

Disable background app refresh and location services

Question 8

A user reports that their iPhone charges very slowly and only when the Lightning cable is held at a specific angle. The user has tried multiple known-good chargers and cables, but the issue persists. The technician inspects the Lightning port on the phone and sees what appears to be lint compacted at the bottom. Which of the following is the BEST next step for the technician to resolve this issue?

Accepted Answer

Gently clean the port with a wooden toothpick. The lint compacted at the bottom of the Lightning port is preventing the connector from seating fully, causing intermittent charging. Gently cleaning the port with a wooden toothpick is the safest and most effective method to dislodge the debris without damaging the delicate pins inside the port. This resolves the issue without replacing hardware or performing software resets.

Answer

Use compressed air to blow out the debris from the port

Answer

Replace the Lightning port assembly

Answer

Perform a factory reset on the iPhone

Question 9

A technician is troubleshooting a desktop computer that shuts down unexpectedly after about 15 minutes of running a graphics-intensive application. The computer operates normally during light use, such as web browsing and word processing. The technician has verified that all cooling fans are spinning and that the CPU and GPU temperatures are within normal ranges. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the issue?

Accepted Answer

Insufficient power supply capacity. The symptom of a computer shutting down under heavy GPU/CPU load after a consistent time interval, despite normal temperatures and fan operation, strongly points to the power supply unit (PSU) being unable to deliver sustained peak current. Graphics-intensive applications draw high transient power spikes; if the PSU's rated capacity is insufficient or its 12V rail is degraded, the overcurrent protection (OCP) or undervoltage protection (UVP) will trip, causing an abrupt shutdown. The fact that light workloads run fine confirms the issue is load-dependent, not a thermal or component failure.

Answer

Failing memory module

Answer

Corrupt operating system files

Answer

Faulty motherboard

Question 10

A user's desktop computer does not boot and emits a series of long beeps. After checking the motherboard documentation, the technician confirms the beep code indicates a memory issue. Which of the following should the technician do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Reseat the RAM modules. The beep code indicates a memory issue, and the most common cause is loose or improperly seated RAM modules. Reseating the RAM is the simplest, fastest, and least invasive first step to ensure proper contact between the memory module and the motherboard slot.

Answer

Replace the motherboard

Answer

Replace the power supply

Answer

Update the BIOS firmware

Question 11

A technician is troubleshooting a desktop computer that shuts down unexpectedly when the user runs a 3D rendering application. The technician has already replaced the power supply unit (PSU) with a known-good unit of the same wattage, verified that all cooling fans are working, and checked that CPU and GPU temperatures remain within normal limits during the rendering process. The RAM passes a memory test. Which of the following should the technician check NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Check the voltage output from the wall outlet. The technician has already replaced the PSU with a known-good unit of the same wattage, but the issue persists. This suggests that the problem may not be the PSU itself, but rather insufficient or unstable input power from the wall outlet. A voltage drop or brownout condition under load can cause the system to shut down unexpectedly, even if all components are functioning correctly. Checking the voltage output from the wall outlet with a multimeter is the logical next step to rule out an external power quality issue.

Answer

Replace the motherboard

Answer

Update the BIOS firmware

Answer

Replace the graphics card

Question 12

A technician is troubleshooting a laser printer that produces pages with faint text and a gray background. The toner cartridge has already been replaced with a new one, but the issue persists. Which of the following should the technician do NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Clean the corona wire. Faint text with a gray background on a laser printer typically indicates a problem with the primary corona wire (or charge roller) failing to apply a uniform negative charge to the photosensitive drum. Even with a new toner cartridge, if the corona wire is dirty or damaged, the drum will not be properly charged, causing toner to be attracted to non-image areas (gray background) and insufficient toner to be deposited for the image (faint text). Cleaning the corona wire restores the correct electrostatic charge distribution, resolving both symptoms.

Answer

Replace the fuser assembly

Answer

Check the transfer roller

Answer

Run the printer's self-cleaning cycle

Question 13

A technician is replacing a failed hard drive in a server that uses RAID 1 (mirroring). After installing the new drive of the same model and capacity, the RAID controller shows the new drive as 'foreign' and 'unconfigured'. Which of the following should the technician do NEXT to integrate the new drive into the existing array?

Accepted Answer

Use the RAID controller utility to import the foreign configuration. When a RAID controller detects a new drive that was previously part of another array (or is blank), it marks it as 'foreign' to prevent accidental data loss. The correct next step is to import the foreign configuration using the RAID controller utility, which allows the controller to recognize the drive and integrate it into the existing RAID 1 mirror without disrupting the data on the healthy drive.

Answer

Delete the existing array and recreate it with the new drive

Answer

Replace the new drive with a different model from a different manufacturer

Answer

Initialize the drive from the operating system’s disk management tool

Question 14

A technician is troubleshooting a desktop computer that does not power on. The motherboard's power LED is lit. When the power button is pressed, no fans spin and no beeps occur. The technician uses a multimeter to test the power supply. The purple wire (+5VSB) reads 5.1V. The green wire (PS_ON) reads 0V when the power button is pressed. However, all other pins on the main power connector show 0V. Which of the following is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The power supply unit is faulty.. The +5VSB (purple wire) reading of 5.1V confirms the standby power rail is working, and the PS_ON (green wire) dropping to 0V when the power button is pressed indicates the motherboard is correctly asserting the power-on signal. However, all other pins showing 0V means the power supply is not turning on its main outputs (+12V, +5V, +3.3V). This is a classic symptom of a faulty power supply unit (PSU) that fails to energize the main rails despite receiving a valid PS_ON signal.

Answer

The motherboard is faulty.

Answer

The power button is defective.

Answer

The CPU is not seated properly.

Question 15

A technician is troubleshooting a laser printer that produces pages with vertical black streaks down the length of each page. The technician has already replaced the toner cartridge and the imaging drum with new OEM parts. A test page printed from the printer's control panel also shows the streaks. Which of the following printer components is MOST likely causing this issue?

Accepted Answer

Fuser assembly. Vertical black streaks that persist after replacing the toner cartridge and imaging drum indicate a problem downstream of the drum, typically in the fuser assembly. A damaged fuser roller (e.g., a nick, scratch, or melted toner buildup) will transfer a continuous line of toner onto the paper as it passes through the fuser, creating a streak that repeats every page. Since the test page from the printer's control panel also shows the streaks, the issue is hardware-related and not driver or software dependent.

Answer

Transfer roller

Answer

Primary corona wire

Answer

Pickup roller