220-1102 Software Troubleshooting Practice Question
A technician is troubleshooting a Windows 10 workstation that blue screens with various stop codes. The crashes occur randomly, often under heavy load. The technician has updated all drivers, run a memory test (Memtest86+) with no errors, and checked disk health with CHKDSK. The system crashes again. Which tool should the technician use to analyze the root cause of the crashes?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse Reliability Monitor (a summary tool) with a crash dump analyzer, or assume that because hardware tests passed, the issue must be software that can be diagnosed with Performance Monitor, when in fact only a debugger like WinDbg can examine the actual crash context.
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
✓
Windows Debugger (WinDbg)
WinDbg is the correct tool because it can analyze memory dump (.dmp) files created during a blue screen crash. Since the technician has already ruled out hardware issues (memory, disk) and driver updates, the random crashes under load point to a kernel-mode or driver-level software fault that only a debugger like WinDbg can pinpoint by examining the stack trace, bug check code, and parameters.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Windows Memory Diagnostic
Why it's wrong here
The technician has already run Windows Memory Diagnostic, which tests physical RAM for faults like bad sectors or errors in memory modules. Running it again would be redundant because the existing blue screen analysis problem is not about re-confirming memory health; the tool does not read crash dump files at all. It cannot reveal which driver or kernel module caused the STOP error, so it is not the next logical troubleshooting step.
- ✗
Performance Monitor
Why it's wrong here
Performance Monitor is designed to collect and display real-time or historical performance counters such as CPU usage, memory utilization, disk activity, and network throughput. It does not parse the .dmp memory dumps that are generated when a blue screen occurs, nor can it decode the bugcheck code and faulting driver from the crash context. While it may highlight resource pressure, it offers no direct insight into the exact component that caused a specific bugcheck, making it unsuitable for this task.
- ✗
Reliability Monitor
Why it's wrong here
Reliability Monitor provides a visual timeline of system stability, recording application failures, Windows updates, and hardware errors over time, but it only lists events at a high level. It does not open the kernel memory dump file or inspect the stack trace, so it cannot identify the specific driver or module responsible for a Windows 10 blue screen. Its usefulness is limited to confirming that a crash happened and seeing surrounding events; a thorough driver-level analysis requires the crash dump itself.
- ✓
Windows Debugger (WinDbg)
Why this is correct
Windows Debugger (WinDbg) is the correct tool because it can load the memory dump file (e.g., MEMORY.DMP or a minidump) that Windows produces during a bugcheck. By running the `!analyze -v` command, WinDbg automatically parses the bugcheck code, error parameters, and the faulting module's stack trace, pinpointing the exact driver or service that caused the crash. This deep forensic analysis lets the technician identify whether the issue is a third-party driver, a corrupted system file, or a kernel bug, and then take targeted action such as updating or rolling back that driver. Unlike monitoring tools, WinDbg directly examines the captured memory state at the time of the failure.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Troubleshoot: Memory Leak Issues
Key term
Windows 10
Windows 10 is a personal computer operating system developed by Microsoft that combines the familiarity of Windows 7 with the modern features of Windows 8, designed to run on a wide range of devices from desktops to tablets.
Key term
Windows
Windows is a family of operating systems developed by Microsoft that manages computer hardware and software, providing a graphical user interface for users to interact with their devices.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 220-1102 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 220-1102 exam.