LPIC-2 Practice Question: Block Devices, Filesystems and Advanced Storage
A system administrator notices that a new 1TB NVMe drive (/dev/nvme0n1) is not detected by the kernel. The hardware is confirmed working. Which troubleshooting step should be taken first to check if the drive is recognized by the system's PCI subsystem?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates assume a missing block device must be checked with block-level tools like lsblk or fdisk, when the correct first step is to verify the PCI bus enumeration with lspci, because NVMe drives are PCIe-attached and the kernel cannot see them without a detected controller.
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
✓
Run lspci to verify the NVMe controller is detected.
The NVMe drive is not detected by the kernel, but the hardware is confirmed working. The first step is to verify whether the PCI subsystem sees the NVMe controller, because NVMe devices are connected via the PCI Express bus. Running lspci lists all PCI devices, including the NVMe controller; if it does not appear, the issue is at the PCI or hardware level, not the block layer.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Run lsblk to list all block devices.
Why it's wrong here
lsblk only lists devices already recognized by the kernel.
- ✗
Check dmesg output for errors.
Why it's wrong here
dmesg is useful after lspci to diagnose driver issues.
- ✓
Run lspci to verify the NVMe controller is detected.
Why this is correct
lspci shows PCI devices, including NVMe controllers.
- ✗
Run fdisk -l /dev/nvme0n1 to probe the drive.
Why it's wrong here
fdisk requires the device to be present.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This LPIC-2 practice question is part of Courseiva's free LPI certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the LPIC-2 exam.