hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
220-1201 Practice Question: That their tablet's screen is completely black…
A user reports that their tablet's screen is completely black but the device vibrates when powered on. You have already tried a forced restart and checked for physical damage. What is the most likely hardware cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
CompTIA A+ often tests the distinction between the digitizer (touch input) and the LCD panel (display output); the trap here is that candidates confuse a cracked digitizer with a black screen, but a cracked digitizer does not prevent the LCD from showing an image.
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 LCD panel or display ribbon cable is faulty.
The device vibrating on power-on indicates the system board, processor, and power management are functioning, but the display subsystem is not. Since a forced restart and physical damage inspection have been ruled out, the most likely hardware cause is a faulty LCD panel or a damaged display ribbon cable connecting the mainboard to the screen. This explains why the device is operational (vibration) yet the screen remains black.
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 battery is completely drained.
Why it's wrong here
A completely drained battery would prevent the tablet from powering on at all, resulting in no vibration or any other sign of life when attempting to turn it on. The device requires a minimum charge to initiate the boot process and provide haptic feedback. Therefore, if the tablet vibrates, it indicates sufficient power is available to begin the startup sequence, ruling out a fully depleted battery.
- ✓
The LCD panel or display ribbon cable is faulty.
Why this is correct
When a tablet vibrates upon power-on but displays a completely black screen, it strongly suggests that the device's internal components, such as the motherboard and CPU, are functioning correctly and initiating the boot sequence. However, the absence of any visual output points directly to a failure within the display subsystem itself. This could be due to a damaged LCD panel, which is responsible for generating the image, or a disconnected/faulty display ribbon cable that transmits video signals from the mainboard to the screen.
- ✗
The digitizer is cracked.
Why it's wrong here
The digitizer is the component responsible for detecting touch input on the screen, translating finger movements into electrical signals for the operating system. While a cracked digitizer would impair or completely disable touch functionality, it does not affect the underlying LCD panel's ability to display an image. Therefore, a tablet with a cracked digitizer would still show content on the screen, even if it couldn't respond to touch, making a completely black screen inconsistent with this issue.
- ✗
The OS is corrupted.
Why it's wrong here
A corrupted operating system typically manifests with symptoms such as boot loops, freezing during startup, or displaying specific error messages on the screen as the system attempts to load. While the OS might fail to fully load, the initial boot process, which includes haptic feedback like vibration, would usually complete, and some form of visual output, even if an error, would be attempted by the display subsystem. A completely black screen with vibration suggests a hardware issue preventing display output before the OS has a chance to fully load and present an error.
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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.