mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped

A technician is building a new PC using an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X CPU and an Asus TUF GAMING B550-PLUS motherboard. When powering on, the motherboard's Q-LED indicator shows a solid red light for the CPU. The CPU fan spins, and all other fans and LEDs appear normal. The technician has carefully reseated the CPU and verified there are no bent pins. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the CPU error light?

Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →

A technician is building a new PC using an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X CPU and an Asus TUF GAMING B550-PLUS motherboard. When powering on, the motherboard's Q-LED indicator shows a solid red light for the CPU. The CPU fan spins, and all other fans and LEDs appear normal. The technician has carefully reseated the CPU and verified there are no bent pins. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the CPU error light?

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.

A

Distractor review

The CPU is not on the motherboard's Qualified Vendor List (QVL)

While the QVL is a list of tested CPUs, failure to be on the list does not mean the CPU is incompatible; it simply means it hasn't been tested.

B

Best answer

The BIOS version is too old to support the CPU

A B550 motherboard may require a newer BIOS to support Ryzen 5000 series CPUs. The CPU error LED often indicates the motherboard does not recognize the installed CPU.

C

Distractor review

The power supply unit is insufficient for the CPU

An insufficient power supply would more likely cause random shutdowns or failure to power on entirely, not a specific CPU error light with fans spinning.

D

Distractor review

The CPU cooler is not making proper contact with the CPU

Improper cooler contact would cause overheating after the system runs for a while, but the system would typically boot and show a CPU error later or shut down. It would not immediately trigger a CPU initialization error LED.

Common exam trap

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.

Technical deep dive

How to think about this question

This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.

KKey Concepts to Remember

  • Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
  • Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
  • Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
  • Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.

TExam Day Tips

  • Underline the problem statement mentally.
  • Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
  • Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.

Related practice questions

Related 220-1101 practice-question pages

Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.

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?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: The BIOS version is too old to support the CPU — The Ryzen 5 5600X was released after many B550 motherboards, so an older BIOS version may not include the microcode necessary to support it. Many B550 boards require a BIOS update to work with Ryzen 5000 series processors. The CPU error LED typically indicates that the motherboard cannot initialize the CPU. A power supply issue would usually cause no power or beep codes rather than a specific CPU error. A cooler incorrectly installed might cause overheating after some time, but the system would likely boot initially. The CPU not being on the motherboard's QVL (Qualified Vendor List) does not necessarily prevent booting; QVL is a list of tested models, and many untested CPUs work fine.

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.

Discussion

Loading comments…

Sign in to join the discussion.