A+ Quiz

What type of voltages would you commonly expect to find on motherboard's power supply connector?

12V DC, 5V DC, 3.3V DC A computer's power supply provides the motherboard with a number of different DC voltages, usually including 3.3 volts DC, 5 volts DC, and 12 volts DC.

Which speeds would commonly be associated with USB 3.0?

5 gigabits per second USB 3.0 provides 5 gigabits per second of throughput over a maximum cable length of 3 meters.

Which throughput speeds would you expect to see on a single direction of a PCI Express v2.x lane?

500 MB/s PCIe version 2.x supports 500 megabytes per second of throughput on a single lane.

Which are true regarding the conversion of DVI to HDMI?

A signal conversion is required from DVI analog to HDMI digital DVI and HDMI are electrically compatible, so it only takes a simple cable or adapter to move between the two video types. If you're planning to convert from analog to digital on any standard, you'll need to perform a signal conversion.

Which would you use to convert between USB A and USB B?

A single cable with different connectors on each end USB A and USB B signals are electrically compatible, so you only need a cable with different connectors on each end.

You've just replaced the SATA hard drive in your desktop PC with an SSD. Which changes should you expect.

Access to your data on the SSD should be faster than the hard drive and The SSD should have very similar motherboard connections as the existing hard drive interface Solid-state drives are memory-based, so there are no moving parts to slow down the computer or to make additional noise. Most SSDs are SATA connected and do not require any defragmentation. Since writes are limited, most operating systems are smart enough to avoid using unnecessary writes to an SSD.

Which part of a hard drive is responsible for moving the arm back and forth?

Actuator The actuator contains very strong magnets that can accurately move the hard drive arm to the correct location on the platters.

One of your customers is looking for a MIDI-to-USB interface for her new laptop computer. What is she probably connecting to her PC?

An electronic musical instrument. The Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI, is a standard digital connection used primarily for musical instruments.

Which of these methods would be the best way to prevent someone from "shoulder surfing" when you're working on your laptop?

Attach a filter to the front of your display screen A display filter can make the screen look perfectly normal to you, but the screen looks completely black to anyone who's not sitting directly in front of the screen.

What software is responsible for starting your computer when power is applied?

BIOS Your computer's Basic Input/Output System is firmware that tells your computer how to launch your operating system.

Which technology restricts users from making any changes to their hardware configuration?

BIOS security Adding passwords to the BIOS configuration can restrict users from adding or changing any of their system hardware settings.

You would find in a BIOS configuration?

Boot device order The BIOS configuration settings would include the date, time, boot device order, and other system configuration values. Windows configuration settings would not be stored in the BIOS configuration.

What type of memory is used to improve the performance of CPU instruction processing?

Cache A processor's L1, L2, and L3 cache can dramatically increase the number of instructions passing through the CPU.

Which step would be the best choice prior to physically installing a new adapter card into a computer?

Check the documentation to determine the order of installing the drivers and the physical adapter card Some adapter cards require that a driver be installed prior to the physical installation of the card. Be sure to check the instructions with your adapter card to determine the option you should take prior to placing the adapter card inside of the computer.

What part of the laser printing process removes all toner from the photosensitive drum?

Cleaning The cleaning process is considered either the last or the first step of the laser printing process. Before a new page can be printed, all of the excess toner must be cleaned from the photosensitive drum.

Which laser printing steps ensures that you will not see a "ghosted" image appear down the page of your output?

Cleaning The cleaning process removes any excess toner from the photosensitive drum and prepares it for another cycle through the printing process.

Which multi-function device configuration settings will print multiple copies in their proper order?

Collate Collating the printer output can make it much easier to manage multiple copies of large documents.

What does the C in CMOS represent?

Complimentary CMOS is an abbreviation for complimentary metal-oxide-semiconductor.

What type of memory module package would you commonly find on a desktop computer that uses DDR3 memory?

DIMM DDR3 SDRAM memory uses a DIMM module as a standard package on desktop computers.

You are replacing some DDR3 memory in a desktop computer. What memory type would you expect to use?

DIMM Desktop memory on most modern systems uses DIMM format memory, although you might find some older systems that might use RIMM modules. It's nearly impossible to find SIMM in active use, and SO-DIMM is almost exclusive to laptop computers.

Which optical storage formats can support a maximum of 4.7 gigabytes on a single layer of media?

DVD-ROM A single layer DVD can storage a maximum of 4.7 gigabytes of data, and a dual-layer DVD can double that to 8.5 GB of data.

Which connectors would you most likely find a high-resolution digital video signal?

DVI A DVI connector can be used to send analog or digital signals to a monitor or display device.

Which of these features would not be commonly found in a BIOS?

Disk partitioning options The BIOS does not provide any partitioning functionality. Although a BIOS will recognize a physical storage device, the logical setup of that storage device is the responsibility of the operating system.

You received a support ticket to configure a mirrored display. Which would be the most likely configuration for this request?

Display information on multiple monitors When using multiple monitors, information can be duplicated, or mirrored, on both displays. The displays can also be configured to extend the total desktop across both displays.

Which would be a best-practice for thermal printer output?

Don't put the output near a heat source Thermal printers operate by heating a portion of a special chemical paper to show the output. If the paper is left in a hot area, the rest of the printout will turn that color and obscure the original output.

Which of these commonly use a tractor feed?

Dot-matrix printer Dot matrix printers often use tractor fed paper. These tractor feeds use holes on the side of the paper to pull the paper through the printer.

Which laser printer components allow the printing of information on both sides of a page?

Duplexing assembly The duplexing assembly of a laser printer flips the page so that information can be printed on both sides during a single printing process.

What does the D in SDRAM stand for?

Dynamic In Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory, the dynamic part refers to the constant refreshing of the memory that must occur to maintain the charge in the memory capacitors. Without constant refreshing, dynamic memory would quickly "forget about" the contents.

Which two memory types are designed to detect errors.

ECC and Parity memory Parity memory includes an additional parity bit that helps to identify errors, but it's not designed to correct the error. Error Correcting Code (ECC) Memory can detect and correct memory errors on the fly.

You're installing a memory upgrade into a computer, and you notice that the motherboard documentation states that ECC memory is required. Why would a computer use ECC memory?

ECC memory can automatically identify and fix data errors Error Correcting Code memory can identify errors and correct them on the fly. You'll often see ECC memory required on motherboards that are used for centralized servers.

Which connection type would you most commonly associate with NAS?

Ethernet NAS (Network Address Storage) is accessible across the network, so one of the most common NAS connections is over Ethernet.

You need to create a 500 GB hard drive image and transport the image to another computer. Which would be the best choice for storing this image?

External hard drive An external hard drive provides the storage space and portability to successfully move a large drive image from one computer to another.

Your new motherboard comes with four SATA ports. What is the maximum number of SATA devices that it can support?

Four devices SATA connections can only support a single device per interface.

What is the purpose of a CPU cache?

Holds data, instructions, or results for fast retrieval A CPU cache can make your system appear to run much faster because the efficiency of the data path is improved by holding information in fast cache memory.

Which would be considered an advantage of a UEFI BIOS?

Includes a pre-boot environment A UEFI BIOS comes with an advanced pre-boot environment that enables extensive troubleshooting without the requirement of an underlying operating system.

Which items would you most likely find in a thermal printer maintenance kit?

Isopropyl alcohol A thermal printer has very few moving parts and the entire print mechanism is a single heating element. You won't find a printer carriage, print head, or fuser unit in a thermal printer. Isopropyl alcohol is commonly used to keep the thermal printer heating element and feed rollers clean.

What component on a motherboard provides configuration options by connecting two pins to create an electrical circuit?

Jumper A jumper is an electrical conductor that can be placed on two jumper pins to complete an electrical circuit, and therefore change a configuration option. It is common to see jumpers on motherboards, adapter cards, and other computing devices.

Which processor packages has flat contacts on the processor and pins on the motherboard?

LGA The LGA (Land Grid Array) processor package has all of the pins on the motherboard, and the processor contacts are flat. The LGA is commonly seen on modern Intel i3, i5, and i7 processors.

Which sockets has pins and is paired with a CPU that does not have any pins?

LGA The Land Grid Array socket has pins on the motherboard and flat contacts on the CPU package.

What name is associated with the brightness of a display?

Lumens The number of lumens is the standard associated with the brightness of a display. Three-thousand lumens would work in a dim room, and six-thousand lumens would work well in a sunlit room.

Which would be the best example of using a TPM?

Manage BitLocker encryption keys The trusted platform module is designed to assist with a PC's encryption and decryption processes.

Which of these interface types would you expect to find in a laptop computer?

Mini PCI The Mini PCI interface was built specifically for smaller form factors such as laptops and tablets.

What is Advanced Technology Extended?

Motherboard type The ATX (Advanced Technology Extended) motherboard was standardized by Intel in 1995 and remains one of the most popular motherboard types.

Which would be most likely to connect to a computer through a PS/2 connector?

Mouse or keyboard The PS/2 connector is a 6-pin mini-DIN connection designed for a keyboard or mouse, originally found on the IBM PS/2 personal computer. These days you'll connect your mouse or keyboard with the USB interface.

Which characteristics would be important when designing a thin client workstation?

NONE A thin client user is executing applications on a separate server, so there's no requirement for high-end graphics, CPU, or memory. A thin client with a basic keyboard, mouse, and video display can perform all of the same functions as a traditional thick client.

Which would also be described as the memory controller hub?

Northbridge The northbridge connects the CPU to memory, and it's often described as the memory controller hub.

What CPU technology is designed to speed processing time by temporarily storing data, instructions, and/or results?

On-chip cache The CPU caches allow for increased performance because of their speed and because they are generally located directly on the CPU chip.

What is describe NFC?

Operates at a range of 10 cm or less NFC (Near Field Communication) is commonly used with payment systems, and it operates best at a very close range of 10 centimeters or less.

What type of socket package is an AMD Socket AM3?

PGA The AMD Socket AM3 uses a PGA package. All of the AMD sockets in the 220-901 exam objectives are PGAZIF packages. Conversely, all of the Intel processors listed in the exam objectives are LGA sockets.

Your company has a multifunction device that uses a Centronics connector. What interface does this device connect to on your computer?

Parallel A Centronics connector connects to a DB-25 parallel interface on a computer.

What type of memory can identify an error but not correct the issue?

Parity Parity memory can identify most memory errors, but there is no mechanism for parity memory to correct an error. ECC (Error Correcting Code) memory can both identify and correct memory errors.

What is the fundamental characteristic of parity memory?

Parity memory uses an additional bit to identify errors A computer that supports parity memory will take advantage of an additional bit that can be used to identify errors. Unlike ECC memory, parity memory can identify errors but not correct them.

You need to install a high-end video capture adapter into a desktop computer. What kind of adapter card interface would be most appropriate for this purpose?

Peripheral Component Interconnect Express The PCI Express bus is the fastest and most flexible adapter type for systems that have high-bandwidth needs. On an x16 PCI Express 3.0 bus, the total bandwidth is about 16 gigabytes per second!

What kind of CPU package fits into a Socket FM1?

Pin grid array A PGA (pin grid array) package consists of many pins that fit into a many-holed ZIF (zero insertion force) socket. Socket FM1 is an AMD CPU with a PGA package.

Which characteristics would be most important for a CAD/CAM workstation?

Powerful processor and , High-end video. A graphical workstation needs a high-end video adapter and plenty of CPU processing. A graphics workstation doesn't require enhanced audio or a TV tuner, and the type of video interface is not a critical consideration.

Best describes the use of the NX bit?

Prevents code from running in protected memory locations The NX bit (No-eXecute bit) is used to prevent malicious code from executing in protected memory locations. Intel calls this the XD bit (eXecute Disable), and AMD refers to this bit as Enhanced Virus Protection.

Which of these would be the best example of an output device? Pick two.

Printer and Speaker Output devices are printers, speakers, display devices, and any other component that gets data out of a computer.

Which part of the laser printing process requires extensive use of printer memory?

Processing The processing phase of the laser printing process "builds" the entire page in memory before the printing process begins. A laser printer must print an entire page without stopping, so the rendering of the page must occur before the printer begins.

What would liquid cooling do for CAD workstation?

Provided needed cooling. An application that uses high levels of CPU and video processing would need as much cooling as possible. A computer aided design (CAD) workstation requires intense CPU and video processing.

You have two drives that you would like to configure into the most redundant configuration possible, where all information is duplicated across physical drives. Which of these RAID types should you configure?

RAID 1 RAID 1 duplicates information across all available storage devices, and it can work with a minimum of two drives.

Which RAID types create an exact duplicate of data across physical drives.

RAID 1 and RAID 1+0 RAID 1, or mirroring, is an exact duplicate of all data across multiple physical drives. RAID 1+0 combines mirroring and striping to create a RAID 0 striped set of data that is duplicated across multiple RAID 1 mirrored drives.

You need to design a drive array that will continue to operate if any drive fails. Which RAID types fit this requirement?

RAID 1 and RAID 5 RAID 0, or striping, provides high performance but a single drive failure breaks the array. RAID 1 and RAID 5 both continue to operate, even if a single drive fails.

You've received a message in your error log that a drive in your RAID 1 array is faulty. What's the best way to rebuild this RAID 1 array?

RAID 1 arrays are redundant, so you simply need to replace the bad drive RAID 1 is a mirrored array, where data is completely duplicated across physical hard drives. If you lose a hard drive, the array is redundant and will continue to operate; usually without any loss of performance. I've personally identified bad hard drives in RAID 1 arrays that failed months prior, without anyone realizing there was a problem. Rebuilding the drive array is relatively easy. If the drive array supports hot swapping, you don't even need to power down your computer during the drive replacement. The RAID array will recognize that a new drive has been added to the array and will duplicate the existing data to construct a new RAID 1 mirror.

You would like to configure a RAID array that included both striping and mirroring. Which of these RAID types would accomplish this requirement?

RAID 1+0 RAID 1+0 is sometimes called a "stripe of mirrors," due to it's use of mirrored pairs that are striped together. This RAID format combines the speed of RAID 0 with the redundancy of RAID 1.

If you had four identical drives, which RAID type would provide both redundancy and the most available storage space for your data?

RAID 5

Which would not be a best practice for removing a paper jam from an inkjet printer?

Remove all of the ink cartridges before clearing the jam

Which tasks would you most likely associate with thermal printer maintenance?

Remove paper debris There are very few moving parts in a thermal printer, and the maintenance tasks usually focus around replacing the thermal paper, cleaning off the heating element, and removing small bits of paper debris that accumulate over time. The thermal printer does not have a traditional print head, toner, or ink.

Which acronym is a hard drive interface?

SATA The Serial ATA interface is the only one listed that could be part of a hard drive interface. PCI refers to the Peripheral Component Interconnect bus, VGA is the Video Graphics Array interface, and BIOS is the Basic Input/Output System.

computer interface standards in order from fastest to slowest.

SATA Revision 3.0 (6.0 Gbit/s), USB 3.0 (5 Gbit/s), FireWire Beta mode (800 Mbit/s), One stream of 802.11n (150 Mbit/s)

What memory type is often used as L1 cache memory?

SRAM Static RAM is commonly used for L1, L2, and L3 cache memory.

Which of these would you expect to occur as a network connection distance increases?

Signal strength degrades The farther you get from the source of a signal, the weaker the signal becomes.

Which sockets would be most associated with an Intel Sandy Bridge i7 processor?

Socket H2 Intel's Socket H2 was released in 2011 and provided a socket for the Intel Sandy Bridge i3, i5, and i7 processors.

What best describes the replacement of an inkjet cartridge?

Some inkjet cartridge colors can be individually replaced Although some inkjet printers will combine the cyan, magenta, and yellow cartridge, it's also common to find those colors as individual cartridges. It usually takes just a few seconds to replace an inkjet cartridge, and the plastic cartridges are often recyclable.

Which part of the PC architecture commonly manages the control of keyboards, USB interfaces, and hard drive controllers?

Southbridge Since the Northbridge handles all of the high-speed bus connections, most of the lower-speed components are managed by the Southbridge.

How does a thermal printer display information on a printed page?

Special paper is heated until it changes color Thermal printers don't use any ink or toner because of the special paper used during the printing process. A heating element in the print head applies a small amount of heat, and the paper changes color wherever it's heated.

What is specific to thermal printer maintenance?

Specially coated printer paper is used Thermal printers do not use normal printer paper, and instead use a specially coated paper that turns dark when heat is applied.

Which security technologies would be the best choice to store and manage a computer's cryptographic keys?

TPM The Trusted Platform Module is specialized hardware on a PC motherboard that securely stores and manages cryptographic keys. The TPM can be especially useful when using advanced security features such as full-disk encryption.

Your organization maintains some large databases that require frequent backups. These databases are currently approaching 10 terabytes of data, and they're constantly growing in size. The database backups usually occur every week, but sometimes a backup is required more frequently. For legal and compliance reasons, the backups must be stored for at least six months. Which o media would be the best fit for your backup requirements?

Tape A tape backup is the best fit for this requirement because of the large amount of storage required and the length of time that all of this media must be archived. NAS would require a massive amount of storage, and you'd need to invest in a lot of disk drives to keep the archives for six months. DVD-ROMs and solid-state disks aren't large enough to reasonably store this much information in a single backup.

Each time you turn on your computer, you get a message that the BIOS configuration has been set to the defaults and must be reconfigured. Which of these would be the most likely reason for this message?

The BIOS battery is no longer charged The battery that maintains the BIOS configuration will eventually lose its charge, which means that the BIOS configuration will only be maintained while the computer maintains a power source.

When looking over the specifications of a new computer, the front-side bus (FSB) speed is prominently displayed. Why is the front-side bus important?

The FSB describes the speed of the bus between the northbridge and the CPU. During the normal operation of a PC, the communications path between the CPU and the memory controller (the northbridge) is heavily utilized. The front-side bus is the communications path that handles all of this traffic, so it stands to reason that the speed of this communications link is a significant factor in the overall speed of a computer. Most PC technical specifications will include the speed of the FSB to assist with speed comparisons between systems.

A computer power supply is sized by the capacity of watts. What does a watt represent?

The amount of energy transferred by the power supply A watt is a measurement of work done by the device, and the "capacity" of a power supply is measured by the number of watts that can be supported.

You have recently upgraded the CPU in one of your servers, including a heat sink and a CPU fan. Unfortunately, the temperature of the CPU is getting very hot during normal operation. what could be the cause of this overheating?

The amount of thermal paste is insufficient The thermal paste creates a thermal connection between a component and a heat sink. Without enough thermal compound, the heat from the component will not properly conduct to the heat sink, and the component will be much hotter than necessary.

What is the most common use for ECC memory?

The computer is a database server that provides services for hundreds of simultaneous users Error-Correcting Code (ECC) memory is often seen in high-end motherboards that provide important services or software functions. Unlike normal parity memory, ECC memory can find and fix errors. ECC memory generally costs more, so you usually see motherboards designed for ECC memory when there's a specific need.

What would you expect to occur if you did not connect the hard drive status wires to your new motherboard installation?

The drives would work normally, but you will not see any status lights The hard drive status connection on the motherboard is simply to light the LED when hard drive activity occurs. Although the lights are useful to see, they don't have any operational functionality at all.

You have just purchased a new dual-core PC, but when you look at the Windows Task Manager's Performance tab, you see usage statistics for four CPUs. What would be the most likely cause of this difference?

The dual-core CPUs are using HTT Hyper-Threading Technology is designed to allow a single CPU to schedule two processes at the same time, allowing the system to share the workload between both threads. If you view an HTT-enabled CPU in Task Manager, it will appear as if the computer has two or more CPUs for every physical CPU.

What are a common characteristic of an LGA socket?

The pins are on the motherboard An LGA socket is used on many modern CPUs, and one obvious characteristic is the large number of pins that are on the motherboard instead of the CPU package.

Which would be the best reason for performing a laser printer calibration?

The printer output appears too dark The laser printer calibration process can adjust the output to print with a different density of toner. This is especially useful when a new toner cartridge is installed that uses a different brand of toner.

On a laser printer, what happens just prior to the fusing process?

The toner is transferred from the photosensitive drum to the paper Once the toner is transferred to the paper, the next step is to permanently fuse the toner to the paper using heat and pressure.

One of the computers on the manufacturing floor is having problems with the barcode reader that inventories all new products. Which interfaces would most commonly be used with this reader?

USB Although barcode readers are relatively specialized, they almost always use a very common PC interface. In many cases, you'll find a barcode reader using one of the older mini-DIN (PS/2) or the more-common USB connection.

What is the most common interface used to connect external flash memory devices?

USB The Universal Serial Bus is becoming more universal all the time. If you have a flash memory device, then it almost certainly has a USB interface.

Which of these best describes digital modulation?

Using a modem for Internet connectivity Digital modulation is the communication of digital signals over an analog carrier. Converting a digital signal from an analog connection using a modem is a common form of digital modulation.

What 15-pin connector is commonly used to transmit video?

VGA A VGA connector is a three-row 15-pin connector that is commonly used for computer video.

Which technologies can only transmit analog video data?

VGA VGA is an analog-only video technology. Although other technologies like DVI can also transmit analog video signals, DVI can also transmit digital signals as well.

Best describes a thermal printer?

Very quiet operation A thermal printer works using heat, which means that the actual printing process is very, very quiet.

What would commonly be tested during POST?

Video adapter and Keyboard connection The power on self-test (POST) process provides a basic hardware diagnostic that confirms that the minimum necessary hardware is available before starting the computer. If RAM is missing, the video adapter isn't working, or the keyboard isn't connected, you'll get an error message and the computer will stop the boot process before loading the operating system. Detailed diagnostics, such as hard drive access times and USB power levels aren't part of the POST process; you'll need some additional diagnostics software to check for that detailed information.

What feature is enabled when AMD-V is available?

Virtualization AMD processors provide virtualization support through a feature called AMD-V. Intel processors use VT, or Intel Virtualization Technology.

What does the exposing step of the laser printing process do?

Write the image on the imaging drum with a laser The laser writes the image on the surface of the photosensitive drum. Toner will be added during the developing process that will stick to these exposed areas.

One of your associates has told you that he's added a supervisor password to the BIOS of every computer in the organization. What does the addition of this BIOS password mean?

You can't make changes to the BIOS configuration without the password The supervisor password restricts access to the BIOS, preventing any hardware additions or configuration changes. The addition of a user password would prevent the system from booting unless you had the correct password.

What does the "e" in eSATA stand for?

external The eSATA standard provides high-speed throughput in an external storage connection.

Which motherboard form factor was designed to fit into legacy cases, and takes up less space with fewer expansion slots?

microATX The microATX motherboard has become a popular form factor, due in part to its compatibility with existing ATX-sized computer cases.