A technician installs a new M.2 NVMe SSD into an appropriate M.2 slot on a desktop motherboard. After booting the system, the BIOS does not detect the SSD. The SSD is known to work in another computer. The technician has verified the SSD is fully inserted and secured with the mounting screw. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
Distractor review
The M.2 slot is disabled in the BIOS settings.
While some motherboards allow disabling an M.2 slot, it is more common for the slot to be disabled automatically due to a SATA port conflict rather than being manually disabled in BIOS. Checking the BIOS is a valid step but not the most likely first cause.
Best answer
A SATA port that shares bandwidth with the M.2 slot has a drive connected, causing the M.2 slot to be disabled.
This is the most likely cause. Motherboard manuals often list which SATA ports are disabled when an M.2 slot is occupied. Moving the SATA drive to a different port typically resolves the issue.
Distractor review
The power supply does not provide enough wattage for the NVMe SSD.
NVMe SSDs consume very little power (typically under 10W), so an insufficient power supply is extremely unlikely to cause the SSD to be undetected in BIOS.
Distractor review
The CPU does not support NVMe drives.
Most modern CPUs, including those compatible with the motherboard chipset, support NVMe via the chipset's PCIe lanes. A lack of CPU support is very rare for standard desktop processors.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
- PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
- Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
- NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
- Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
- Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
- Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
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More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A user reports intermittent network connectivity on a desktop computer. The technician observes that the Ethernet link light on the NIC turns off for a few seconds and then turns back on. The cable passes a wiremap test, the switch port is verified good with another device, and the NIC driver is updated. The issue occurs more frequently when the computer's case fan runs at high speed. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause?
Question 2
A workstation is unable to connect to the internet. The technician runs the 'ipconfig' command and sees the IPv4 address is 169.254.15.200 with a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0. The workstation can ping other devices on the local subnet but cannot ping the default gateway or any external addresses. Which TWO actions should the technician take to resolve this issue? (Select two.)
Question 3
A workstation is connected to a managed switch. It obtains a valid IP address (192.168.10.50) from the DHCP server, but it cannot ping the default gateway (192.168.10.1). The link light on both the workstation NIC and the switch port are solid green. Other workstations on the same switch CAN ping the default gateway successfully. The technician accesses the switch management interface and finds that the workstation's port is configured as an access port on VLAN 10. The default gateway is located on VLAN 20. An inter-VLAN router is configured but not explicitly allowing VLAN 10 access to VLAN 20. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the problem?
Question 4
A company develops a web application that relies on a custom library available only for a specific Linux distribution. They want to deploy the application in the cloud with minimal administrative overhead, but they need full control over the software stack, including the ability to install the custom library and configure the web server. Which cloud service model BEST meets these requirements?
Question 5
A company has a legacy virtual machine running on a deprecated hypervisor (Hyper-V). They want to migrate this VM to a new hypervisor (VMware vSphere) hosted in a private cloud while preserving the VM's configuration, installed applications, and data. The migration must be performed with minimal downtime. Which of the following methods is MOST appropriate?
Question 6
A company hosts a critical database on a virtual machine in a public cloud. The database requires persistent storage that must be retained even if the VM is terminated. The storage must also be accessible from multiple VMs simultaneously for a future high-availability configuration. Which type of cloud storage BEST meets these requirements?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this 220-1101 question test?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: A SATA port that shares bandwidth with the M.2 slot has a drive connected, causing the M.2 slot to be disabled. — Many motherboards share PCIe lanes between M.2 slots and certain SATA ports. When a SATA drive is connected to a shared SATA port, the motherboard may disable the M.2 slot to avoid lane conflicts. This is a common issue that can be resolved by moving the SATA drive to a different, non-shared port as indicated in the motherboard manual. The BIOS may not show an option to enable/disable the M.2 slot separately because the conflict is handled automatically. Power supply wattage is irrelevant because an NVMe SSD draws very little power. Modern CPUs support NVMe natively.
What should I do if I get this 220-1101 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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