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220-1201 Practice Question: A small business has several PCs that…
A small business has several PCs that intermittently reboot or fail to start. The building's electrical system is old, and the technician suspects power quality issues. Which device should the technician recommend installing to protect the computers?
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
✓
An uninterruptible power supply (UPS).
An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) provides battery backup and voltage regulation, protecting against surges, sags, and brownouts that can cause reboots or failures. A surge protector only guards against spikes, not low-voltage conditions. A UPS is the appropriate solution for unstable power.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
A power strip with a surge protector.
Why it's wrong here
A power strip with a surge protector is designed primarily to protect electronic devices from sudden, high-voltage spikes or surges by diverting excess electricity. However, intermittent reboots are often caused by undervoltage events like sags or brownouts, or brief power outages. A basic surge protector offers no protection against these common power quality issues, which would still cause a PC to lose stable power and reboot.
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A line conditioner (voltage regulator).
Why it's wrong here
A line conditioner, also known as a voltage regulator, is effective at stabilizing incoming AC power by correcting for both sags (undervoltage) and swells (overvoltage) within a specified range. While this can prevent reboots caused by voltage fluctuations, it does not incorporate a battery backup system. Therefore, a complete power outage, even a momentary one, would still result in the PC losing power and shutting down or rebooting.
- ✓
An uninterruptible power supply (UPS).
Why this is correct
An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is the most effective solution for preventing intermittent reboots caused by unstable power. It provides immediate battery backup during complete power outages or severe undervoltage events (sags/brownouts), ensuring continuous operation for connected devices. Furthermore, most UPS units also incorporate line conditioning capabilities to regulate incoming voltage, protecting against both sags and spikes, thereby delivering a consistently stable power supply.
- ✗
A dedicated circuit from the breaker panel.
Why it's wrong here
A dedicated circuit from the breaker panel ensures that a specific outlet or group of outlets receives power directly, isolating it from other high-draw appliances on internal circuits. While this can prevent voltage drops or interference caused by other devices within the same building, it offers no protection against power quality issues originating from the utility company. Problems like sags, brownouts, or brief outages from the grid would still affect the PC, leading to intermittent reboots.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Mobile Device Types and Features
Key term
CAN
A CAN (Controller Area Network) is a robust vehicle bus standard designed to allow microcontrollers and devices to communicate with each other without a host computer.
Key term
Backup
A backup is a copy of computer data taken and stored separately so that the original data can be restored if it is lost, damaged, or corrupted.
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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.