220-1101 Hardware Practice Question
A technician is building a new gaming PC. After installing the CPU, cooler, RAM, and graphics card, the system powers on but immediately powers off after about 5 seconds. The technician has verified that the CPU cooler fan is spinning, the power supply is sufficient, and all cables are connected. The motherboard has diagnostic LEDs; none light up before the system shuts down. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
CompTIA often tests the distinction between a short circuit (immediate shutdown due to protection circuits) and component failures like overheating (delayed shutdown) or faulty RAM (POST failure without shutdown), leading candidates to incorrectly choose overheating or RAM issues when the symptom is a rapid power cycle.
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
✓
A loose motherboard standoff is causing a short circuit
A loose motherboard standoff can create an unintended electrical connection between the motherboard's solder points and the metal case, causing a short circuit. This short typically triggers the power supply's overcurrent protection (OCP) or short-circuit protection (SCP), which immediately shuts down the system after a brief power-on to prevent damage. The fact that the system powers on for about 5 seconds and then shuts off, with no diagnostic LEDs lighting up, strongly indicates a hardware short rather than a component failure.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
A loose motherboard standoff is causing a short circuit
Why this is correct
A loose or misplaced motherboard standoff can contact solder joints or traces on the underside of the board, creating an unintended electrical path between power and ground. The PSU detects this overcurrent condition and trips its protection circuit, cutting power abruptly—often after a few seconds of initial operation. Because the fan spins before shutdown, the fault is in the electrical path, not in the CPU or storage. The consistent 5-second delay before power-off is classic short-circuit protection behavior.
- ✗
The CPU is overheating
Why it's wrong here
The CPU cooler fan is spinning, but even if thermal paste was absent, modern CPUs require much longer than five seconds to reach shutdown temperature from ambient at idle; under a heavy load it might be faster, yet this system is just starting to boot. A thermal-triggered shutdown occurs only after the CPU reaches its Tjunction max, driving the thermal management unit to assert PROCHOT and eventually power off. Since the power cuts at a fixed, short interval regardless of load, overheating is an unlikely cause.
- ✗
The power button is stuck
Why it's wrong here
A stuck power button closes the front-panel header signal to ground continuously, which the motherboard interprets either as a request to remain on or, after a four-second hold, as a forced power-off. This would not produce a consistent 5-second power cycle; it would either leave the system latched on or cause it to immediately bounce off due to switch contacts chattering. Moreover, the power button is a low-voltage signal, not a high-current line, so it cannot cause the PSU to shut down from overload.
- ✗
Insufficient RAM
Why it's wrong here
If RAM is missing or not fully seated, the CPU cannot execute the POST routine, but the board will remain powered—usually with power LEDs on and beep codes from the speaker. Insufficient RAM (i.e., too little capacity) would not prevent POST; the system would still boot and then crash or fail to load software, but it would not abruptly kill PSU power after five seconds. A shutdown mid-POST points to a hardware short or voltage fault, not to a memory configuration error.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Power Supply Units and Connectors
Key term
Dual In-line Memory Module
A Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM) is a small circuit board that holds memory chips and plugs into a computer's motherboard to provide Random Access Memory (RAM).
Key term
RAM
RAM (Random-Access Memory) is volatile computer memory that temporarily stores data for quick access by the CPU.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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