easyMultiple Choice
XK0-006 Practice Question: A system fails to boot after installing a new…
A system fails to boot after installing a new SATA disk. The BIOS recognizes the disk. What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers assume a new disk must be partitioned and formatted before it can cause boot issues, but the BIOS boot order is independent of filesystem state, and a blank disk can still be selected as the first boot device, leading to a 'No bootable device' error.
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
✓
Boot order is incorrect
The most likely cause is an incorrect boot order because the BIOS recognizes the new SATA disk but the system still fails to boot. When a new disk is installed, the BIOS may default to booting from it if it appears earlier in the boot sequence than the original boot device, and if the new disk lacks a bootable operating system, the system will hang or fail to boot. This is a common scenario where the BIOS sees the disk but the boot priority is misconfigured, not a corruption of GRUB or a lack of formatting/partitioning.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
GRUB configuration is corrupted
Why it's wrong here
Installing a disk does not modify GRUB, which resides on the existing boot volume; corruption would not be caused by adding hardware. GRUB repair is the right action when bootloader files are damaged or misconfigured, such as after a failed kernel update, not when firmware simply selects the wrong disk.
- ✓
Boot order is incorrect
Why this is correct
The BIOS detects the disk, so hardware and cabling are functional. If the newly installed SATA disk sits ahead of the original boot disk in the firmware's boot priority list, the system attempts to boot from a disk lacking a bootloader, causing failure. Reordering boot priority restores startup.
- ✗
The new disk is not formatted
Why it's wrong here
Formatting creates a filesystem on an existing partition; a blank disk without one cannot be formatted yet. The boot failure arises because the BIOS now enumerates the new SATA disk ahead of the original boot device, so the firmware attempts to boot from empty media. Formatting is correct when provisioning a data volume.
- ✗
The new disk is not partitioned
Why it's wrong here
An unpartitioned disk has no partition table, but a boot failure after adding a disk usually stems from boot order or GRUB changes, not partitioning. Partitioning is required before creating filesystems on a data disk, so it would be the right step when preparing new storage, not when diagnosing a boot problem.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Installing Linux and Package Management
Key term
Operating system
An operating system (OS) is the core software that manages a computer's hardware and software resources, providing common services for computer programs.
Key term
GRUB
GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader) is a boot loader package that loads and manages the operating system startup process on Linux and other Unix-like systems.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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