easyMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
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
Corrupt GRUB would cause boot failure regardless of new disk.
- ✓
Boot order is incorrect
Why this is correct
The system might try to boot from the new disk, which has no bootloader.
- ✗
The new disk is not formatted
Why it's wrong here
Formatting is not required for booting from another disk.
- ✗
The new disk is not partitioned
Why it's wrong here
An unpartitioned disk would not prevent boot from the primary disk.
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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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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