Question 1

Which of the following drivers needs to be installed immediately after a clean installation of the Windows XP Operating System?
A)Network driver
B)Video driver
C)Audio driver
D)Chipset driver

Accepted Answer

The first driver to be installed after the XP installation is the Chipset driver. One needs to follow a logical sequence of driver installations to be able to get all drivers to work correctly.
Key Takeaway: The classic installation sequence of drivers instructs Chipset driver first, video drivers second, Audio drivers third, LAN drivers fourth followed by any other drivers.

Question 2

Which of these modes requires the least amount of time to boot up in order to retrieve the previous computing session?
A)Shutdown
B)Standby
C)Hibernate
D)Restart

Accepted Answer

The Standby option needs the least amount of time to boot up in order to retrieve the previous computing session.
Key Takeaway: Shutdown and Restart will need more time to boot to the last computing session. A Hibernate stores the data on the HDD and is slower to resume. A Standby saves the data on the RAM and is the quickest to resume.

Question 3

David works in the IT department of his organization. He has been asked to suggest the best SCSI standard which gives optimized disk performance. Which standard should he suggest?
A)SCSI-1
B)SCSI-2
C)Fast SCSI
D)Wide SCSI

Accepted Answer

Wide SCSI standard has a maximum transfer rate of 20MB/s, and hence this should be used for optimized disk performance.
Key Takeaway: Wide SCSI is a variant of the SCSI-2 interface. It uses a 16-bit and supports transfer rates up to 20MB/s, like Fast SCSI.

Question 4

What does the processor first look at when booting up a PC?
A)Motherboard
B)Hard drive
C)RAM
D)BIOS

Accepted Answer

When booting up a system, the processor first looks at the BIOS to determine the machine's fundamental configuration and environment.
Key Takeaway: The first thing that the BIOS does when booting the PC is perform the Power-On Self-Test, or POST for short. The POST is a built-in diagnostic program that checks your hardware to ensure that everything is present and functioning properly before the BIOS begins the actual boot.

Question 5

John has configured device A to use IRQ 3. Which of the following will device A potentially conflict with?
A)COM2
B)LPT1
C)IP3
D)LPT2

Accepted Answer

COM2 uses IRQ 3 by default. If device A is assigned IRQ 3, it will conflict with COM2.
Key Takeaway: An IRQ can be assigned to only one resource at one point in time. Some of the resources on the PC take up a specific IRQ by default. If these default IRQs are assigned to some other resource manually, it may cause a conflict when the resource using this IRQ is added.

Question 6

A user calls in and complains that he is not able to play music on his computer. As a technician what should be your first step towards identifying the cause of the problem?
A)Ask him to try to play any other audio file on his computer.
B)As him if he is using a headphone or a speaker.
C)Ask him if he can play the song on any other computer.
D)Ask him if he is playing the song from his CD or his hard drive.

Accepted Answer

The first step towards resolving this issue is to isolate the possibility of a corrupt audio file. Hence you need to ask him to try to play any other song on the computer.
Key Takeaway: Although checking if the song is played from a CD or hard drive is important, it still doesn't check for the integrity of the audio file. The audio file could be corrupt, be it on the hard drive or the CD. Asking him to play the song on any other computer or asking him the kind of output device he is using (speaker or headphone) should be the next step in the process of isolating the problem.

Question 7

A technician has installed a new video card and the computer will now only boot into VGA mode. Which of the following may be the cause of the problem?
A)The incorrect drivers are installed.
B)There is an operating system incompatibility.
C)The external monitor is not compatible.
D)The new card is not DVI compatible.

Accepted Answer

The best solution here is to check if the appropriate set of display drivers is installed. If not, install the appropriate set of drivers.
Key Takeaway: If the display is working fine without a video driver, it eliminates an issue with the external monitor. As long as the correct set of display drivers are installed, there shouldn't be any compatibility issues with the operating system.

Question 8

Your customer complains that the USB port never worked on his XP Home desktop computer with any USB device. You find that the USB port is present, but not working with any USB device. Which of the following could resolve the problem?
A)Enable USB in the BIOS settings.
B)Use a USB hub.
C)Nothing. The OS doesn't support USB.
D)Enable USB using Networking applet in the Control Panel.

Accepted Answer

Enable the USB settings in the BIOS to make the USB device work on the USB port.
Key Takeaway: To achieve proper USB connectivity, the following basic system elements must be present and working correctly: support from the BIOS, support from the Operating System, physical USB ports, and a USB Device.

Question 9

You installed a new wireless mouse on every computer in the Sales department. You check if every mouse is working correctly and notice that at one of the computers, the pointer is jumping across the screen instead of moving smoothly. What should you do first?
A)Check if the receiver station is too far from the mouse.
B)Reboot the computer.
C)Connect the receiver station to another port on the computer.
D)Reinstall the drivers.

Accepted Answer

You need to check if the receiver is too far away from the mouse. This may cause signal loss and the mouse may not be able to communicate with the transceiver.
Key Takeaway: In case you are on the boundary of signal reception, the mouse pointer may behave erratically due to lower signal strength of the signals sent to the receiver. Get the mouse closer to the receiver.

Question 10

You've upgraded the memory in a computer by adding an additional memory module to the motherboard. After powering the system up, the BIOS doesn't show any errors, but it also doesn't show any additional memory in its memory count. What is the next step to troubleshoot the problem?
A)Run a full memory test from the system diagnostics disk.
B)Contact the memory module manufacturer's technical support.
C)Remove the memory module from the computer and try it in another system.
D)Reset the memory module.

Accepted Answer

The first step in troubleshooting this issue is to reseat the memory module. Reseating means removing and reinserting it into the slot.
Key Takeaway: Always start with the simplest troubleshooting task. When adding new memory modules, it's very easy to add the memory chips without inserting them completely into the slot. Before going through more comprehensive tests, the first step is to double-check the installation. A full memory diagnostic can take hours to complete. Checking the memory installation only takes a few minutes, so it would be a good idea to wait until later in the troubleshooting process to perform a comprehensive hardware check. If you've ever had to deal with technical support, then you know that this can be a very time-consuming process. Think about what the first steps that technical support would do, and get those done before contacting them. Trying the memory module on another computer is a step that would take place after troubleshooting on this computer has been completed.

Question 11

You are unable to install a modem because the existing on-board serial port is set to the IRQ required by the new modem. Which menu in the BIOS setup program should you select to modify this setting?
A)Peripherals
B)Startup options
C)System security
D)Power

Accepted Answer

Go to the peripherals option in the BIOS to make any changes to ports or external device settings.
Key Takeaway: All hardware devices on the computer use a specific IRQ. Many times, two devices may have been accidentally allotted the same IRQ. This causes one of the devices to stop functioning properly. Hence it is a good practice to assign an IRQ manually when using many devices.

Question 12

David reports that the IDE controller on his motherboard has failed. What are his options to fix this problem?
A)Install a new driver.
B)Reset the ROM BIOS.
C)Replace the hard drive.
D)Replace the motherboard.

Accepted Answer

To fix the problem with a problematic or non-functioning IDE controller, replace the motherboard.
Key Takeaway: Whenever an integrated component on the motherboard fails, the best option available is to replace the motherboard. Another option is to install an add-on card. These include IDE controllers and all other PCI compatible functionalities.

Question 13

What happens when shadowing options are enabled on a computer BIOS?
A)Values are stored twice in the memory for redundancy checking.
B)Conventional memory is remapped to the top of the extended memory.
C)Data stored in RAM and adaptive card is shadowed into extended memory.
D)Instructions stored in various ROM chips are copied into RAM.

Accepted Answer

When the shadowing option is enabled in the BIOS, all instructions stored in the ROM is copied into the RAM.
Key Takeaway: Shadow RAM is the process of copying the contents of a ROM directly into extended memory which is given the same address as the ROM, from where it will run much faster. The original ROM is then disabled and the new location is Writeprotected. Access in shadow RAM is typically in the 60-100 nanosecond range whereas ROM access is in the 125-250 ns range.

Question 14

You do not want the computer to search for the operating system on the floppy drive each time it boots up. What should you do?
A)Remove the floppy disk drive.
B)Change the boot device priority in the CMOS setting.
C)Use a floppy disk drive ribbon cable without a twist.
D)Change the operating system.

Accepted Answer

Change the boot device priority in the CMOS setup. Set the hard drive priority higher than that of the floppy drive.
Key Takeaway: When a computer boots up, it looks for the operating system on all storage devices connected to the PC. These include the FDD, HDD, and CD-ROM drives. You can also set the priority per your need to boot the computer from a specific storage device.

Question 15

Jack complains that his PC takes a long time to open a file once it is clicked to open. He also complains that the overall performance of the computer is slow. On further probing, you discover that his hard drive is using up 90% of the available space. Which built-in system tool should you recommend to him in order to organize the data on his hard drive?
A)Disk Defragmenter
B)Disk Cleanup
C)Format command
D)PC Doctor

Accepted Answer

Disk Defragmenter is a tool used to defragment the chunks of spread-out data and arrange it sequentially for faster data access.
Key Takeaway: Data is not arranged sequentially on a hard drive. When you try to open a file on the PC, the PC has to look for fragments of data from various parts or sectors of the hard drive. If the hard drive is full of data, the data retrieval process can take longer. As a result, the program takes time to open and the overall performance of the PC is slow.

Question 16

A user complains that her computer pops up a display window stating that the virtual memory is low. Which of these measures can be taken to ensure that the error message stops popping up?
A)Increase free space in the partition used for virtual memory.
B)Install a higher capacity hard disk.
C)Increase the amount of RAM in the computer.
D)Remove unnecessary files and software from the computer.

Accepted Answer

To ensure that the virtual memory pop-up stops appearing, increase the amount of RAM on the computer.
Key Takeaway: All of these steps imply an increase in the primary storage or secondary storage space on the computer. A computer uses a portion of the hard drive as virtual memory when it does not find sufficient memory to run programs. Two ways to ensure that this error disappears are to increase primary storage (or RAM) and increase secondary storage with higher capacity or more free space.

Question 17

After installing new device drivers, you have encountered problems with a computer and the computer will not boot properly. You believe the new hardware drivers are the cause. Using Windows XP Professional, what can you do to verify this?
A)Shut down the computer and reboot. Press F8 at the system prompt and select the last known good configuration.
B)Log on to the computer if you are able and check your resource allocations for device conflicts.
C)Roll back the driver to the previous version.
D)Reload the device drivers you've just installed and reboot the computer.

Accepted Answer

Reboot the computer, press F8 and select the last known good configuration.
Key Takeaway: Many times, new driver installations are not successful. The new versions may cause compatibility issues with the OS. In such cases, the computer will not boot to the OS. The best thing to do is to reset the settings to the last known good configuration, which stores the set of hardware settings which worked last.

Question 18

Which of the following issues/errors would cause the system to hang or lock up, mostly when the system is about to boot?
A)Blue Screen of Death
B)Faulty power supply
C)Faulty Monitor
D)Malfunctioning USB port

Accepted Answer

The errors that cause a system lock during a boot is called the Blue Screen of Death. These errors usually indicate an error number and some information on the error.
Key Takeaway: Blue Screen of Death (or BSOD) is an error which can cause the system to lock up when the system is booting. This is mainly caused by either faulty hardware (especially memory chips) or by operating system related issues. BSOD is the informal name given by users to the Windows general protection fault error.

Question 19

Which of the following Windows XP Professional built-in tools gives you the ability to connect to another computer's desktop to share the desktop?
A)Remote Desktop
B)Desktop Sharing
C)Sharing Desktop
D)Remote Viewer

Accepted Answer

Remote Desktop Protocol is a proprietary protocol developed by Microsoft that enables a user to view a remote desktop through a graphical interface.
Key Takeaway: The Remote Desktop program allows you to use your mouse and keyboard to control the other computer remotely. It means that you can work on a remote computer, as if you were sitting in front of it, regardless of the distance between computers.

Question 20

Which of the following Windows XP utilities can be used to check the programs currently running currently on a computer?
A)Task Manager
B)Device Manager
C)Disk Manager
D)Program Manager

Accepted Answer

To check the programs and processes running on the computer use the Task Manager. To open Task Manager, click Start, Run and type taskmgr.
Key Takeaway: Task Manager provides information about computer performance, programs running on the computer, processes, CPU usage, commit charge, memory information, network activity, and statistics. The Task Manager can also be used to set process priorities, processor affinity, forcibly terminate processes, and shut down, restart, hibernate, or log off from Windows.

Quiz 6: Other Operating Systems and Technologies

Which of the following drivers needs to be installed immediately after a clean installation of the Windows XP Operating System?

Which of these modes requires the least amount of time to boot up in order to retrieve the previous computing session?

David works in the IT department of his organization. He has been asked to suggest the best SCSI standard which gives optimized disk performance. Which standard should he suggest?

What does the processor first look at when booting up a PC?

John has configured device A to use IRQ 3. Which of the following will device A potentially conflict with?

A user calls in and complains that he is not able to play music on his computer. As a technician what should be your first step towards identifying the cause of the problem?

A technician has installed a new video card and the computer will now only boot into VGA mode. Which of the following may be the cause of the problem?

Your customer complains that the USB port never worked on his XP Home desktop computer with any USB device. You find that the USB port is present, but not working with any USB device. Which of the following could resolve the problem?

You installed a new wireless mouse on every computer in the Sales department. You check if every mouse is working correctly and notice that at one of the computers, the pointer is jumping across the screen instead of moving smoothly. What should you do first?

You've upgraded the memory in a computer by adding an additional memory module to the motherboard. After powering the system up, the BIOS doesn't show any errors, but it also doesn't show any additional memory in its memory count. What is the next step to troubleshoot the problem?

You are unable to install a modem because the existing on-board serial port is set to the IRQ required by the new modem. Which menu in the BIOS setup program should you select to modify this setting?

David reports that the IDE controller on his motherboard has failed. What are his options to fix this problem?

What happens when shadowing options are enabled on a computer BIOS?

You do not want the computer to search for the operating system on the floppy drive each time it boots up. What should you do?

A user complains that her computer pops up a display window stating that the virtual memory is low. Which of these measures can be taken to ensure that the error message stops popping up?

After installing new device drivers, you have encountered problems with a computer and the computer will not boot properly. You believe the new hardware drivers are the cause. Using Windows XP Professional, what can you do to verify this?

Which of the following issues/errors would cause the system to hang or lock up, mostly when the system is about to boot?

Which of the following Windows XP Professional built-in tools gives you the ability to connect to another computer's desktop to share the desktop?

Which of the following Windows XP utilities can be used to check the programs currently running currently on a computer?