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220-1201 Practice Question: That their PC boots to a black screen with a…
A user reports that their PC boots to a black screen with a blinking cursor after installing a new SATA SSD. The old hard drive is still connected. What is the most likely issue?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The boot order in BIOS is incorrect
The blinking cursor on a black screen usually indicates the system cannot find a bootable device. With two drives connected, the boot order in the BIOS may be set to the old hard drive or the new SSD may not have an OS installed.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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The new SSD is defective
Why it's wrong here
If an SSD is truly defective, it would typically not be recognized by the BIOS/UEFI at all, or it might cause the system to halt during the Power-On Self-Test (POST) with a specific error message. Booting to a blinking cursor, however, usually indicates that the system successfully completed POST and detected a bootable device, but couldn't find a valid operating system or bootloader on the selected drive. This suggests the drive is detected but lacks the necessary boot files, rather than being physically defective.
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The boot order in BIOS is incorrect
Why this is correct
If the new SSD has no OS and is set as first boot, or the old drive is set first but has a corrupted boot sector, the system hangs. Checking BIOS boot order is the correct step.
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The SATA cable is loose
Why it's wrong here
A loose or faulty SATA data cable would prevent the motherboard from establishing proper communication with the SSD. In such a scenario, the BIOS/UEFI would not detect the drive, and it would consequently not appear in the boot device list. The system would then typically attempt to boot from the next available device or display a "No boot device found" error, rather than proceeding to a blinking cursor, which implies some level of drive detection or an attempt to load a boot record.
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The power supply is insufficient
Why it's wrong here
Solid State Drives (SSDs) are highly power-efficient components, consuming significantly less power than traditional Hard Disk Drives (HDDs), typically only a few watts. Therefore, an insufficient power supply unit (PSU) is highly unlikely to be the sole cause of a system booting to a blinking cursor, especially if other components are functioning. If the PSU were truly insufficient, the system would likely experience more widespread instability, random shutdowns, or fail to power on entirely, rather than just this specific boot issue.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 220-1201 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 220-1201 exam.