A technician is building a new desktop computer using an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X CPU and a B450 chipset motherboard. After assembling all components, the system powers on. The case fans and CPU fan spin, but there is no display output. The motherboard's CPU debug LED remains lit. The technician has already reseated the CPU (no bent pins), verified the RAM is seated correctly, and tested the power supply with a multimeter (voltages within specification). The GPU works in another system. Which of the following should the technician do NEXT?
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.
Best answer
Update the motherboard BIOS to a version that supports Ryzen 5000 series processors
B450 motherboards require a BIOS update to support Ryzen 5000 series CPUs. A CPU debug LED with an otherwise functioning system strongly suggests a BIOS compatibility issue.
Distractor review
Replace the power supply unit with a higher wattage model
The PSU has been tested and voltages are within specification. Power delivery is not the issue as all fans spin and the system stays on.
Distractor review
Reseat the GPU in a different PCIe slot
The GPU has been verified working in another system. Reseating it or changing slots is unlikely to resolve the CPU debug LED.
Distractor review
Replace the CMOS battery and clear the CMOS
Clearing CMOS can reset BIOS settings, but if the BIOS version does not support the CPU, it will not help. The CPU debug LED indicates a fundamental recognition issue.
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: Update the motherboard BIOS to a version that supports Ryzen 5000 series processors — The B450 chipset was originally released for Ryzen 2000 series CPUs. While many B450 motherboards support Ryzen 5000 series (like the 5600X) through a BIOS update, they may not have the required BIOS version out of the box. The CPU debug LED lit indicates the motherboard is not recognizing the CPU. Since all hardware has been verified, the most likely cause is an incompatible BIOS version. The technician should update the BIOS. This is a common scenario in A+ where legacy chipset motherboards need a BIOS update to support newer CPU generations. Other options like replacing the PSU or reseating the GPU are less likely because the system powers on and the GPU is known-good.
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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