Hardware and Network Troubleshooting (2)

Question 1

A technician has just replaced a faulty hard drive and created a partition on the new drive. Which utility should she use next to ready the drive for data storage?

format

chkdsk

diskport

Answer 1

format

The format command is used to wipe data off disks and prepare them for new use. Before a hard disk can be formatted, it must have partitions created on it

Question 2

You are troubleshooting a computer with a RAID-0 array using four disks. One of the disks fails. What can you do to recover the array?

Rebuild the failed disk and restore from backup

Replace the failed disk and restore from backup

Remove the failed disk and rebuild the array

Answer 2

Replace the failed disk and restore from backup

If you are using RAID-0 (disk striping), you actually have more points of failure than a single device, meaning that you’re at a greater risk of failure versus using just one hard drive. One drive failure will cause the entire set to fail. To recover it, replace the failed disk and restore from backup

Question 3

The laser printer in your office is about five years old. Recently, when you print, you will occasionally get low memory error messages. What should you do to fix the problem?

Stop and restart the print spooler

Upgrade the printer’s memory

Upgrade the printer’s hard drive

Answer 3

Upgrade the printer’s memory

If print jobs are processed very slowly or if you are continually seeing “low memory” error messages, it might be a good time to upgrade the memory in the printer

Question 4

You are troubleshooting a recently installed three-disk RAID array. The original technician left notes that he was concerned about creating multiple points of potential failure in the system. Which type of RAID array creates more points of potential failure than a single hard drive?

RAID-1

RAID-0

RAID-5

Answer 4

RAID-0

If you are using RAID-0 (disk striping), you actually have more points of failure than a single device, meaning that you’re at a greater risk of failure versus using just one hard drive. One drive failure will cause the entire set to fail

Question 5

A technician is troubleshooting a computer that is experiencing continuous reboots. He isn’t sure where to begin diagnosing the problem, so he calls you for advice. Which tool should you tell him to use to try to identify the problem?

Multimeter

Loopback plug

POST card

Answer 5

POST card

A failing motherboard or CPU may cause continuous reboots. A POST card may be helpful in narrowing down the exact component that is faulty

Question 6

Users are printing to a laser printer, but nothing is coming out. When you look at the print queue, you see several jobs backed up. The printer is online, has paper, and says Ready. What should you do to resolve the problem?

Turn the printer off and back on

Stop and restart the print spooler

Press the Reset button on the printer

Answer 6

Stop and restart the print spooler

If jobs aren’t printing and there’s no apparent reason why, it could be that the print spooler has stalled. To fix the problem, you need to stop and restart the print spooler. This is done through your operating system

Question 7

Your company has a plasma monitor that used to display conference room information in a common area. Recently, you repurposed the monitor in another area. Regardless of what is on the screen, you can still always see the conference room information template on the screen as well. What is this called?

Dead pixels

Burn-in

Backlight failure

Answer 7

Burn-in

With artifacts, no matter what you have on your screen, you can still see the outlines of a different image. That image has been “burned” into the monitor (sometimes simply referred to as burn-in) and isn’t going away. The only solution is to replace the monitor

Question 8

A user reports that his tablet computer will work on battery power for only about 20 minutes, even after the battery icon says it’s full. She claims that it used to work on battery power for several hours. What is the most likely cause of the problem?

The user is running too many apps

The battery needs to be charged longer

The battery is failing

Answer 8

The battery is failing

As batteries get older, they are not able to hold as much of a charge, and in some cases, they are not able to hold a charge at all. It might be time for a new tablet

Question 9

While troubleshooting a computer, you notice that the hard drive indicator light is constantly on. The system seems unresponsive. You reboot the computer, and a few minutes later the same problem happens. What should you do?

Replace the hard drive

Replace the motherboard

Reinstall the operating system

Answer 9

Replace the hard drive

A hard drive indicator that is constantly on is generally not a good sign; it could indicate that the hard drive is constantly busy or that the system is frozen, either of which is bad. If the problem persists, it’s likely a problem with the hard drive, and the drive should be replaced

Question 10

Your director’s network cable has failed, and he needs network connectivity immediately. You are unable to find a spare patch cable, but you have a spool of CAT5e cable and some RJ-45 connectors. Which tool do you need to create a new cable?

Crimper

Punchdown tool

Cable tester

Answer 10

Crimper

A crimper is a handy tool for helping you put connectors on the end of a cable. Most crimpers will be a combination tool that strips and snips wires as well as crimps the connector onto the end

Question 11

You have just installed a second hard drive in your computer. When you boot up the computer, you get an error message that the operating system is not found. What should you try first?

Check the jumper settings on the hard drives

Run dispart

Replace the new hard drive

Answer 11

Check the jumper settings on the hard drives

When you have multiple hard drives on the same controller, one needs to be set to master and the other to slave. Most drives today will do this automatically, but they have jumpers on them to configure this as well. The requirement to designate the master/slave arrangement is characteristic to Parallel ATA (PATA), where drives are connected by one cable. The alternate (and much faster) option is Serial ATA (SATA), where drives are connected by their own cable

Question 12

You are troubleshooting a computer that will not boot properly. When you power it on, it produces a series of long and short beeps. Which components are most likely to be causing this to happen? (Choose two)

BIOS

Hard drive

Network card

RAM

Answer 12

BIOS

RAM

Every computer has a diagnostic program built into its basic input/output system (BIOS) called the power-on self-test (POST). When you turn on the computer, it executes this set of diagnostics. The steps include checking the CPU, checking the RAM, checking for the presence of a video card, and verifying basic hardware functionality. An error in the BIOS or one of the checked components can cause a beep code

Question 13

You are working on a laptop that appears to be frozen. You press the Num Lock Key several times, but the indicator light remains on. What can you do to try to resolve this issue?

Push and hold the power button until the laptop turns off, and reboot

Press and hold the Num Lock Key until the light turns off

Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to reboot the laptop

Answer 13

Push and hold the power button until the laptop turns off, and reboot

If the laptop is locked up, the only way to reboot it is with a hard boot. Although removing all the power sources would work, it’s not necessary to do so. Simply hold down the power button for about five seconds, and the laptop will power off. If that does not work, then you might need to remove power sources

Question 14

A user complains that when he turns his desktop computer on, nothing appears on the screen. It sounds like the computer’s fan is running, and the user reported hearing one beep when the computer powered on. What is the first thing you should check?

Is the monitor plugged into the video card

Is the monitor turned on

Does another monitor work on this computer

Answer 14

Is the monitor turned on

Check the easy stuff first. It might seem silly, but be sure that the monitor is plugged in and powered on. Check to see if its power light is on

Question 15

A user reports that her mobile phone is extremely hot and appears to be locked up. What should you instruct her to do?

Plug the phone into a wall outlet or USB port to charge it

Turn the phone off and let it cool down

Perform a factory reset of the phone

Answer 15

Turn the phone off and let it cool down

If a mobile device is overheating, turn it off to let it cool down. It could be from overuse, or perhaps it was left in a hot environment or did not have proper ventilation

Question 16

The desktop computer you are troubleshooting will not retain the proper time and date. You set the time and date, power the system down, and power it back on. Again, the settings are incorrect. Which component is likely causing the issue?

CMOS battery

BIOS

Hard drive

Answer 16

CMOS battery

A fairly common issue with the BIOS is when it fails to retain your computer’s settings, such as time and date and hard drive configuration. The BIOS uses a small battery (much like a watch battery) on the motherboard to help it retain settings when the system power is off. If this battery fails, the BIOS won’t retain its settings. Simply replace the battery to solve the problem

Question 17

You have an Android phone and it’s running slowly. The problem seems to be isolated to one app in particular. You check and you have plenty of free memory. You have rebooted the phone several times and the app is still slow. What should you try next?

Reset the phone to factory specifications

Uninstall and reinstall the app

Get a new phone

Answer 17

Uninstall and reinstall the app

If the phone is really slow but isn’t completely locked up, isolate the issue. Is it one app or overall performance? It could be that apps are running in the background and need to be closed. Shutting down those apps or powering the device off and then back on is a good step. You can also check to see how much memory is available. If it’s one app that’s giving you problems instead of the entire device, look for updates to the app, or delete and reinstall the app. Finally, if none of these steps works, perform a restore to factory settings. If the problems persist, it’s time for a new device

Question 18

A laser printer you are servicing has been producing ghosted images. That is, regardless of whatever prints, you can always see a faint copy of a previous image that was printed. What can be causing this? (Choose two)

Dirty charging corona wire

Broken cleaning blade

Broken fusing assembly

Bad erasure lamps

Answer 18

Broken cleaning blade

Bad erasure lamps

Ghosting is caused by one of two things: a broken cleaning blade or bad erasure lamps. A broken cleaning blade causes old toner to build up on the EP drum and consequently present itself in the next printed image. If the erasure lamps are bad, then the previous electrostatic discharges aren’t completely wiped away. When the EP drum rotates toward the developing roller, some toner sticks to the slightly discharged areas

Question 19

You charged your laptop overnight, but in the morning, it will not power on. You remove and reinsert the battery, but still it will not power on. The system will power on when you use the wall adapter, and the battery icon indicates that it’s full. What is the most likely problem?

The battery is defective

The AC adapter is not properly charging the battery

The battery charging icon is not properly reading the battery life

Answer 19

The battery is defective

If the laptop works while it’s plugged in but not while it’s on battery power, the battery itself may be the culprit. As batteries get older, they are not able to hold as much of a charge, and in some cases, they are not able to hold a charge at all

Question 20

A user reports that regardless of what is showing on his LCD desktop monitor, he can always see an outline of another image that never changes. What is the solution to this problem?

Degauss the monitor

Replace the monitor

Clean the screen

Answer 20

Replace the monitor

With artifacts, no matter what you have on your screen, you can still see the outlines of a different image. That image has been “burned” into the monitor (sometimes simply referred to as burn-in) and isn’t going away. The only solution is to replace the monitor