220-1101 Hardware and Network Troubleshooting Practice Test 4 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A technician is troubleshooting a laser printer that produces pages with faint images. The toner cartridge is full and the imaging drum has been replaced recently. The technician prints a test page from the printer's control panel, which also appears faint. Which of the following components should the technician check or replace NEXT?

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

Accepted Answer

The primary charge roller (or corona wire).. The primary charge roller (or corona wire) applies a uniform electrostatic charge to the photosensitive drum. If it is worn, dirty, or failing, the drum cannot hold a proper charge, resulting in a faint image even with a full toner cartridge and a new drum. The test page being faint confirms the issue is in the image formation process, not the data path.

Answer

The fuser assembly.

Answer

The transfer roller.

Answer

The paper pickup rollers.

Question 2

A network laser printer prints garbled pages when receiving print jobs from one specific user's computer, but prints correctly from all other computers on the same network. The printer has a static IP address and is connected via an unmanaged switch. The technician can ping the printer from the affected computer without any packet loss. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The printer driver on the affected computer is corrupted. The printer prints garbled pages only from one specific computer, while other computers on the same network print correctly. This points to a local software issue on that computer rather than a network or printer hardware problem. A corrupted printer driver can cause the print data to be encoded incorrectly, resulting in garbled output, even though network connectivity (ping) is fine.

Answer

The network cable from the affected computer to the switch is faulty

Answer

The print spooler service on the affected computer is stopped

Answer

The USB port on the motherboard of the affected computer is malfunctioning

Question 3

A user reports that their desktop computer, connected to a network printer via Ethernet, outputs garbled text when printing. The same user can print correctly using a USB connection to the same printer. Other users on the same network can print to the printer normally. The technician has already reinstalled the printer driver on the user's computer. Which of the following should the technician check NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Examine the printer driver properties and advanced settings, such as print processor or default language. The issue is specific to network printing on one workstation, with USB printing working fine and other network users unaffected. This isolates the problem to the print processor or data format handling on that client. Reinstalling the driver didn't fix it, so the next step is to check the driver's advanced settings, such as the print processor (e.g., WinPrint vs. HP Standard) or the default data type (e.g., RAW vs. EMF), which can cause garbled output if mismatched with the printer's PDL interpretation.

Answer

Verify the printer's network configuration via its control panel

Answer

Check the network cable and switch port for the printer

Answer

Update the firmware on the network printer

Question 4

A technician is troubleshooting a laser printer that produces pages with faint images. The toner cartridge is full and the imaging drum has been replaced recently. The technician prints a test page from the printer's control panel, which also appears faint. Which of the following components should the technician check or replace NEXT?

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

Accepted Answer

Laser scanner unit. Vertical white streaks on a laser printer page typically indicate a laser scanner unit issue. Since the toner cartridge and imaging drum are confirmed good, the laser scanner's optical path (e.g., a dirty lens, misaligned mirror, or failing laser diode) is the most likely cause, as it fails to write the image uniformly across the drum, leaving unexposed vertical bands that appear as white streaks.

Answer

Fuser assembly

Answer

Transfer roller

Answer

Pickup roller

Question 5

A technician is troubleshooting a laser printer that produces pages with faint images. The toner cartridge is full and the imaging drum has been replaced recently. The technician prints a test page from the printer's control panel, which also appears faint. Which of the following components should the technician check or replace NEXT?

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

Accepted Answer

Laser scanning assembly. Vertical white streaks on a laser printer page indicate that the laser beam is being blocked or obstructed before it reaches the drum. Since the toner cartridge and imaging drum have been replaced and the issue persists, the most likely cause is a dirty or obstructed laser scanning assembly, which prevents the laser from exposing certain areas of the drum.

Answer

Fuser assembly

Answer

Transfer roller

Answer

Paper pickup rollers

Question 6

A user reports that their network printer shows 'Offline' in the print queue on their Windows computer. The printer is powered on and has a link light on its network port. Other users on the same network can print to the printer without issue. Which of the following should the technician do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Set the printer back online in the printer settings. The user's printer shows 'Offline' in the print queue, but it is powered on, has a link light, and other users can print to it. This indicates the printer and network are functioning correctly; the issue is that the printer's status on the user's computer has been set to 'Offline' or 'Use Printer Offline' in the printer properties. The first step is to set the printer back online by right-clicking the printer in 'Devices and Printers' and unchecking 'Use Printer Offline' or selecting 'See what's printing' and clicking 'Printer' > 'Use Printer Online'.

Answer

Restart the print spooler service on the user's computer

Answer

Reinstall the printer driver on the user's computer

Answer

Power cycle the printer

Question 7

A technician is troubleshooting a laser printer that produces pages with faint images. The toner cartridge is full and the imaging drum has been replaced recently. The technician prints a test page from the printer's control panel, which also appears faint. Which of the following components should the technician check or replace NEXT?

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

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

Question 8

A user reports that their desktop computer runs for about ten minutes, then suddenly shuts down without warning. After a few minutes, it can be restarted, but the same problem occurs. The technician suspects overheating. Which of the following should the technician check FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Verify that the CPU fan spins freely when the system is powered on. The symptom of a system running for a short period, then shutting down and restarting after cooling, is classic for overheating. The CPU fan is the primary active cooling component; if it fails to spin, the CPU will quickly reach its thermal threshold (typically around 100°C for modern CPUs) and trigger a thermal shutdown. Checking that the fan spins freely is the quickest, least invasive first step to confirm basic cooling operation.

Answer

Reapply thermal paste between the CPU and heatsink

Answer

Replace the power supply unit (PSU)

Answer

Run a memory diagnostic tool like MemTest86

Question 9

A network printer shows 'Offline' in the print queue on a user's Windows computer. The printer is powered on, has a link light on its network port, and other users on the same network can print to it without issues. The technician has already verified that the printer is online from its control panel. Which of the following should the technician do FIRST to resolve the issue?

Accepted Answer

Restart the Print Spooler service on the affected computer.. The Print Spooler service manages print jobs on a Windows computer. When a printer shows 'Offline' in the print queue despite being powered on, having a link light, and being accessible by other users, the issue is likely a local spooler hang or communication glitch. Restarting the Print Spooler service (via `net stop spooler` and `net start spooler` or the Services console) clears the spooler cache and re-establishes the connection to the printer, which is the simplest and least disruptive first step.

Answer

Change the printer’s IP address to a different static address.

Answer

Reinstall the network printer driver on the affected computer.

Answer

Replace the Ethernet cable connecting the printer to the switch.

Question 10

A user reports that their desktop computer can connect to the internet but cannot access a specific internal website hosted on a server with IP 192.168.1.200. Other users in the same office can access the website normally. The technician pings the server IP from the affected computer and gets a successful reply. Which of the following should the technician check NEXT?

Accepted Answer

The hosts file on the computer.. The hosts file on a local computer can override DNS resolution for specific hostnames. Since the computer can ping the server IP (192.168.1.200) successfully, network connectivity is fine, but if the hosts file contains an incorrect or outdated entry for the internal website's hostname, the browser will fail to load the site. Checking the hosts file is the logical next step before investigating DNS or firewall issues.

Answer

DNS resolution for the internal website.

Answer

Firewall settings on the server.

Answer

The default gateway configuration.

Question 11

A technician is troubleshooting a laser printer that produces pages with faint images. The toner cartridge is full and the imaging drum has been replaced recently. The technician prints a test page from the printer's control panel, which also appears faint. Which of the following components should the technician check or replace NEXT?

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

Accepted Answer

Fuser assembly. The fuser assembly is responsible for melting toner particles into the paper fibers using heat and pressure. If the fuser is not reaching the correct temperature or is malfunctioning, the toner will not be permanently bonded to the page, causing it to smudge or wipe off easily. Since replacing the toner cartridge did not resolve the issue, the fuser is the most likely culprit.

Answer

Transfer roller

Answer

Pickup rollers

Answer

Corona wire

Question 12

A user reports that their desktop computer loses network connection intermittently. The technician notices that the LED on the NIC is off but other computers on the same switch work fine. The cable run is long, passing through a ceiling. Which tool should the technician use FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Cable tester. The intermittent loss of connection and the NIC LED being off strongly suggest a physical layer issue with the cable. Since other computers on the same switch work fine, the problem is isolated to this specific cable run, which is long and passes through a ceiling where it could be damaged or pinched. A cable tester is the correct first tool because it can quickly verify continuity, wiring faults, and signal integrity without requiring the network to be active, allowing the technician to isolate the fault before moving to more complex diagnostics.

Answer

Loopback plug

Answer

Multimeter

Answer

Tone generator

Question 13

A laser printer produces pages where the toner smudges easily when rubbed. The technician has already replaced the toner cartridge and the imaging drum with new OEM components. The fuser is heating to the correct temperature during operation. Which of the following printer components is MOST likely causing this issue?

Accepted Answer

Fuser roller. The fuser roller is responsible for melting toner into the paper fibers using heat and pressure. If the toner smudges easily despite the fuser heating to the correct temperature, the fuser roller's pressure mechanism or its release coating is likely worn or damaged, preventing proper fusing. Replacing the toner cartridge and imaging drum would not resolve a defective fuser roller.

Answer

Transfer roller

Answer

Laser scanner

Answer

Paper pickup rollers

Question 14

A user reports that their desktop computer cannot access the internet, but it can access internal network resources and other computers on the local network. The technician runs ipconfig and sees the IP address is 169.254.15.22. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of this issue?

Accepted Answer

The DHCP server is not responding. The IP address 169.254.15.22 is an Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) address (169.254.0.0/16), which Windows assigns when a DHCP server is unreachable. Since the computer can still access local resources, the network stack is functional, but without a valid DHCP lease, it cannot obtain a routable IP, default gateway, or DNS server, thus losing internet access.

Answer

The DNS server is not responding

Answer

The default gateway is misconfigured

Answer

The network cable is unplugged

Question 15

A user reports that their desktop computer shuts down randomly after running for about 30 minutes. The technician suspects overheating. The technician checks the CPU temperature in BIOS and sees 45°C at idle. The computer has a stock CPU cooler, and the case has one intake and one exhaust fan. The technician runs a stress test, and the CPU temperature reaches 95°C within 5 minutes, then the system shuts down. The technician has already cleaned all dust from the heatsink and fans. Which of the following should the technician do NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Reapply thermal paste between the CPU and cooler.. The CPU temperature spikes to 95°C under load and triggers a thermal shutdown, despite the cooler being clean and fans working. This indicates poor heat transfer from the CPU to the cooler, most likely due to dried-out or improperly applied thermal paste. Reapplying thermal paste restores efficient thermal conductivity, resolving the overheating.

Answer

Replace the power supply.

Answer

Install additional case fans.

Answer

Replace the CPU.