220-1202 Operating Systems Practice Question
A technician is troubleshooting a Windows 11 desktop that randomly freezes and displays a blue screen with the stop code DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL. The technician suspects a recently updated device driver. Which two tools or artifacts should the technician examine to identify the offending driver? (Choose two.)
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is relying on logs that report that a crash happened rather than logs and tools that name the driver responsible for the crash.
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 memory dump file analyzed with WinDbg
The memory dump analyzed with WinDbg names the faulting module directly, and Driver Verifier forces the misbehaving driver to crash deterministically so it can be identified. Together they move the investigation from a general bug check to a specific driver file that can be updated, rolled back, or removed.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The memory dump file analyzed with WinDbg
Why this is correct
A kernel memory dump records the state of the system at the crash, and WinDbg's !analyze -v command parses the bug check to name the faulting module, often the exact driver file. For DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, the analysis typically points to the driver that accessed invalid memory, making this the most direct identification method.
- ✓
Driver Verifier
Why this is correct
Driver Verifier applies stress and correctness checks to selected drivers, forcing an immediate bug check when a driver misbehaves and identifying the driver by name in the resulting crash. Enabling it against the suspect driver converts intermittent failures into reproducible crashes that name the culprit, which is ideal when the memory dump alone is ambiguous.
- ✗
Reliability Monitor
Why it's wrong here
Reliability Monitor aggregates stability events, application failures, and Windows updates into a timeline and can show that a driver update coincides with crashes. However, it reports the event and the update name rather than the specific driver file or module that caused the fault, so it helps correlate timing but does not directly identify the offending driver in the crash.
- ✗
Event Viewer's System log
Why it's wrong here
The System log records the bug check code and sometimes the dump file path, but it rarely names the individual driver responsible. It confirms that a crash occurred and when, which is useful context, yet it does not provide the module-level detail needed to pin the fault on a specific driver, so it is supplementary rather than definitive.
- ✗
Performance Monitor's counter logs
Why it's wrong here
Performance Monitor tracks resource counters such as CPU, memory, disk, and network utilization over time. It can reveal resource exhaustion preceding a freeze but has no visibility into kernel driver call stacks or bug check analysis, so it cannot name the driver that triggered the IRQL fault. It is a capacity and trend tool, not a crash diagnostic.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
This 220-1202 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 220-1202 exam.