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220-1201 Practice Question: A user's SATA SSD is not detected by the BIOS…
A user's SATA SSD is not detected by the BIOS after a power surge. The motherboard has four SATA ports, and the SSD was previously working on port 0. What is the most likely cause?
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 SSD has been corrupted by the surge.
Power surges can damage electronic components. The SSD not being detected in BIOS after a surge points to hardware failure, most likely the SSD itself. Other SATA ports and cables are less likely to be the sole issue.
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 SATA cable is loose.
Why it's wrong here
A loose SATA data or power cable would indeed prevent an SSD from being detected, as it disrupts the necessary electrical power or data communication. However, a power surge is a sudden, excessive flow of electrical current that directly impacts and damages electronic components. It is an electrical phenomenon, not a mechanical force capable of physically dislodging a properly seated cable.
- ✓
The SSD has been corrupted by the surge.
Why this is correct
Power surges introduce excessive voltage and current into electronic components, which can cause catastrophic damage. For an SSD, this often means frying the internal controller chip, corrupting the NAND flash memory modules, or damaging the power regulation circuitry. Such severe electrical damage renders the SSD inoperable and undetectable by the system's BIOS/UEFI, as its essential functions for communication and data storage are compromised.
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The SATA port is disabled in BIOS.
Why it's wrong here
BIOS settings are stored in non-volatile memory, such as CMOS or flash, and are not typically altered by a power surge. A surge is an electrical event that causes component damage, not a software command that would logically toggle a specific port's enabled/disabled state within the firmware configuration. Changing this setting would require deliberate user intervention within the BIOS/UEFI interface.
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The motherboard's SATA controller is damaged.
Why it's wrong here
While a power surge certainly possesses the energy to damage motherboard components, if the motherboard's SATA controller were damaged, it would typically affect all SATA ports connected to that controller. The scenario describes only one SSD not being detected, which makes a widespread controller failure less probable than an issue localized to the drive itself or its specific connection.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Laptop Hardware and Components
Key term
Motherboard
The main circuit board inside a computer that connects all components so they can communicate with each other and receive power.
Key term
SSD
A Solid State Drive (SSD) is a storage device that uses flash memory to save data, making computers start up and load files much faster than older hard drives.
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JA
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.