CompTIA A+ Questions and Answers

Intermittent lockups and reboots are most likely caused by

Failing power supplies are a major cause of intermittent lockups and reboots. Incorrect Answers: The others will create lockups/reboots, but are far more predictable.

Which of the following statements is true regarding scanners?

Increasing the resolution makes for more pixel data to store, and therefore larger image files.

A company uses a proxy server for FTP and HTTP traffic. What port number needs to be set on the client's FTP applications to enable users to use FTP? ​ 80

21. FTP uses ports 20 and 21. However, port 20 isn't listed, so go with port 21. Incorrect Answers: HTTP (the Web) uses port 80. SMTP (outgoing mail) uses port 25, and POP3 (incoming mail) uses port 110

What is the "DDRXXX" rating for PC3200?

400MHz. The term "PC3200" tells us this is DDR. You can calculate the DDR rating simply by dividing by eight. Incorrect Answers: 320MHz would be PC2560, which doesn't exist. 200MHz would be PC1600. 100MHz would be PC800, which doesn't exist.

Cain wants to install a wireless access point in his house, but he is unsure of the different wireless technologies in the market. Which wireless access point operates ONLY on the 5-GHz frequency?

802.11a is the only choice here that runs exclusively on the 5-GHz frequency. Incorrect Answers: B, G, and N all operate on the 2.4-GHz frequency. 802.11n is great because it can operate in dual mode, giving it the ability to use both frequencies!

Choose the two frequency bands used by 802.11. (Select two.)

802.11a uses the 5-GHz range. 802.11b and 802.11g both use the 2.4-GHz range. 802.11n uses both.

What device enables a laptop with a single video output port to support multiple monitors?

A docking station enables you to add additional ports and features that a laptop would otherwise not have. Incorrect Answers: A VGA to DVI converter just enables you to hook a DVI cable up to a VGA port. A monitor arm enables you to reposition your monitor. A PCMCIA card is a type of expansion card for a laptop.

Which of the following is the test we use to verify a NIC is sending and receiving packets correctly?

A loopback test utilizes a loopback plug which is inserted into the NIC's RJ-45 port. You then run a PING 127.0.0.1 or PING localhost to instruct the card to ping itself. Incorrect Answers: A Bit Error Rate Test is used on high capacity voice lines such as T1 or T3. In computing, a checksum is most commonly a value placed on computer files to verify they haven't been altered. Parity is an older testing method, sometimes seen in older high-end RAM, which uses an extra bit to test a set of data bits.

What's the highest capacity that you can expect from a single-sided dual-layer DVD-R disc?

A single-sided, dual-layer DVD-RW disc can hold up to 8.5 GB of data. Incorrect Answers: A single-sided, single-layer DVD-RW disc can hold 4.7 GB of data. A CD-RW can hold up to 700 MB. 250 MB is the largest size of Iomega Zip disk that was created. Fun fact: If you know what a Zip disk is, you are old, congrats!

A customer needs to create a copy of a database on media, however the file is 89GB. Which of the following format specifications can support the file size?

Conventional Blu-ray technology has a capacity of 50GB. BDXL supports 100 GB and 128 GB disks through triple and quadruple layer disks. Incorrect Answers: BD-RE DL will not support the file size. BD-RE will not support the file size. BD-R will not support the file size.

An iOS tablet user needs more storage. What external storage devices are available in this case?

Currently, iOS tablets have no ability to add external storage.

Which type of memory module has 200 pins?

DDR and DDR2 SO-DIMMs have 200 pins. Incorrect Answers: SIMMs have 30 or 72 pins. DIMMs have 168, 184, or 240 pins. RIMMs have 184 pins.

A technician is installing and configuring a SOHO wireless network for a client. The client only wants five authorized computers to connect to the network within a defined IP range. Which of the following should the technician configure on the router? (Select two.)

DHCP is the technology in charge of handing out IP addresses dynamically, and you can configure it to stay within a certain range of IP addresses. Meanwhile, MAC filtering enables you to create a list of PCs allowed on the network based on their MAC addresses. Incorrect Answers: A demilitarized zone (or DMZ) is a security measure designed to protect internal systems from outside threats by exposing a part of the network to the outside. ARP, or address resolution protocol, resolves network layer addresses (for example, IP addresses) to link layer addresses (MAC addresses). SSID refers to the name of a wireless network.

A company is updating their office routers that handle all incoming and outgoing networking traffic. They would like the PCs to immediately connect to internet and network resources, without any additional configuration. Which protocol should the technician use to meet the requirements? ​

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a client/server protocol that automatically provides an Internet Protocol (IP) host with its IP address and other related configuration information such as the subnet mask and default gateway. Incorrect Answers: NAT is used to translate private LAN addresses into a shared public address. Port forwarding allows calls to a particular port of a public address to be directed to a specified internal IP address and port. QoS is used in a router to prioritize and optimize inbound and outbound traffic.

A user wishes to access her contacts from their Android phone. Which of the following methods will provide the MOST up-to-date contact information on the user's phone on a daily basis?

Enable contact synchronization by setting up her e-mail account on the phone. - Synchronization keeps a user's e-mail contacts updated constantly. Incorrect Answers: All the other answers are made-up.

Mark wants to add a SOHO router to his LAN. What cable should he use between the SOHO router and his cable modem?

Ethernet. The incoming WAN connection on a SOHO router is an Ethernet port. Incorrect Answers: Thunderbolt connects peripherals, such as a external mass storage drive. Coaxial is used to connect the cable modem to the wall jack, the connection point from the cable Internet service provider. Although some networking devices use USB, that's not a typical port on a SOHO router.

Mike is setting up a new Internet connection. When he types PING 209.29.33.25, he is successful. When he types www.totalsem.com, he is not. Which TCP/IP setting should he check first? ​ WINS

He should check his DNS (Domain Name System) server address first. Incorrect Answers: The subnet mask isn't the problem if he is able to PING a server on the Internet. WINS is like DNS, but for working with NetBIOS names, not domain names like www.totalsem.com. The Default Gateway is working if he is able to PING a server on the Internet.

Which of the listed network devices can only broadcast data?

Hubs are only capable of sending out broadcast traffic. Incorrect Answers: Firewalls keep unwanted data packets away from a network or system. Routers connect two networks together. Switches are interconnectivity devices that are capable of sending packets to the computers that they're addresses to.

Which of the following synchronization formats should be used to allow email access from all their devices? ​ iCal

IMAP was specifically designed to retrieve e-mail messages from a mail server using multiple e-mail clients. By default, it leaves messages on the mail server, unless the user specifically deletes an email. Incorrect Answers: SMTP is incorrect, it is the protocol for sending e-mail. iCal is incorrect. It is a Windows calendar server. POP3 is not designed to allow e-mail access from a single device.

Len is nervous about outsiders accessing his home network. Which of the following could he use to control access?

Installing MAC filtering would enable Len to limit access to only computers with known MAC addresses. Incorrect Answer: Port filtering might allow access in some scenarios (like blocking DHCP requests), but let's think simpler. IP blocking wouldn't work—which IP's would you block? Ethernet filtering is not a real term or procedure.

A technician, trying to upgrade the RAM in a laptop, opens the bottom of the case to discover that there is only one RAM slot when there are supposed to be two. Where might the other slot be?

Laptops sometimes hide the second RAM slot under the keyboard. Incorrect Answers: The other locations usually do not hide a RAM slot

Which of the following is a unique problem of satellite broadband connections?

Latency is a unique issue to satellite broadband due to the amount of time it takes the signal to come from the satellite to your antenna. Incorrect Answers: ESD, impedance, and RF interference are not issues unique to satellite broadband connections.

Maria returns from a wonderful vacation, but finds her portable computer can log into the LAN at the office, but not to external sites. Betsy the tech tries a few options, such as accessing a Web site by name and by IP address. The former fails, but the latter hits the site. What command should Betsy run to resolve this problem

Maria's DNS resolver cache has a problem; running ipconfig /flushdns will most likely fix the issue. Incorrect Answers: Running ipconfig by itself will provide information, but not resolve any problems. Running ipconfig /all will provide a lot of information, but not resolve any problems. Running ipconfig /setclassid6 will modify the IPv6 DHCP class ID, but won't flush the DNS.

Martha's inkjet printer's output has the bottom of every letter missing in text and strange horizontal lines evenly spaced in her images. What part of the inkjet should she check for problems?

Missing lines of horizontal print always points to a problem with the printhead. Incorrect Answers: The paper is being printed on, so it's not the take-up rollers. Inkjet printers do not have photosensitive drums. The printer resolution is not at fault, either.

Which of the following is a proper name for a stick of RAM?

Modern computers use DIMMs for RAM. Incorrect: CRIMMs were used to fill empty slots when using RDRAM. LGA stands for Land Grid Array and is a type of CPU package. BGA stands for Ball Grid Array and is also a type of CPU package.

Harriet's printer wasn't working properly, but you've fixed it. She's got two jobs waiting in the print spool. What two choices are viable options for you in response to her request to have the jobs printed? (Select two.)

Most print jobs will restart on their own, but you may also press Resume printing on each print job if they do not. Incorrect Answers: The other choices are untrue and incorrect.

Which of the following is NOT a common laptop battery technology?

Na-Cl is not a battery technology; it is the chemical composition of sodium chloride, or ordinary table salt. Incorrect Answers: Ni-CD, Ni-MH, and Lithium Ion are all laptop battery technologies.

What kind of network connection can you make with a crossover cable? (Select two.)

Normal patch cables won't work when connecting two PCs directly by their NICs. You can also use a crossover cable to connect two hubs that aren't using an uplink port. Incorrect Answers: Crossover cables would not be used for connecting a PC NIC to a hub or a hub to a modem

Which of the following problem outputs would benefit the most from printing a calibration page?

Of the following choices, only blurred images would benefit from a calibration page. Incorrect Answers: None of the other issues would benefit as much from printing a calibration page.

Where is a laptop's wireless antenna typically located?

Wireless antennas are typically installed in laptops' screen bezels, since this results in the best possible reception.

Yesterday you were working on client's wireless laptop, patching the system through Windows Update. Today, the client reports that they can no longer access the internet. What is the FIRST thing you should check? ​ Ensure that the driver wasn't accidently updated through Windows Update

On most modern laptops there is a little switch on the laptop that will enable or disable the WiFi radio on the device. This should be your first stop in troubleshooting WiFi problems. Incorrect Answers: The WiFi antenna on most, if not all laptops is built into the screen portion of the laptop. If this laptop were to have a PCMCIA wireless card, then maybe it would have an antenna. A BIOS firmware update while always handy for random hardware fixes, would probably be one of the last things I do, especially since their laptop worked fine yesterday. Having a drive updated through Windows Update is usually a great thing! You may get additional features or funtionality. However, there are those times where patching can produce negative results. I would definitely have this somewhere in my troubleshooting process, but not first.

A PCIe video power connector has how many pins?

PCIe power connectors can come in 6-pin and 8-pin varieties depending on what is needed. Both deliver an additional 12 volts for advanced video cards. The 6-pin connector officially supplies 75 watts of extra power for video cards, while the 8-pin connector supplies up to 150 watts. While installing an 8-pin PCIe power connector, be careful not confuse it with the 8-pin EPS connector for your motherboard. You might just see some sparks fly! Incorrect Answers: The 4-pin power connector is for the traditional Molex connector. The 20- & 24-pin power connectors are known as the ATX power connector, or sometimes the "P1" connector. Which one you have usually depends on the age of your motherboard and power supply and what their requirements are.

What is likely to be reset during standard printer maintenance? ​ Print job cache

Printer maintenance might have the effect of resetting the printer's paper and tray settings. Incorrect Answers: None of the other answers are reset by standard printer maintenance.

You want to configure disk striping on a desktop PC. Which of the following levels of RAID will accomplish this? ​ RAID 5

RAID 0 is also known as striping. This level of RAID has no fault tolerance. If one of your drives dies in the RAID array, the entire array is lost. Incorrect Answers: RAID 1 is mirroring. RAID 5 is block-level striping with distributed parity. RAID 10 is a hybrid RAID. It's a mirrored set in a striped set

A technician is called in to troubleshoot a four-disk RAID 10 array on a high-end Windows 7 Enterprise workstation. One drive has failed. Which of the following should the technician do to fix the problem?

Replace the drive and make sure the array rebuilds successfully. You don't want to leave the drive in the array for one second longer than necessary. Incorrect Answers: Don't just reseat the drive. You need to replace it. After replacing the drive, don't just power the RAID down. You need to make sure that the RAID rebuilds the drive. You can't just add a fifth drive to a RAID 10 array. A RAID 10 has 4 drives by definition.

Jose is upgrading the memory on his laptop. The laptop has two slots for RAM, but one of them is currently being occupied. He has checked the qualified vendor list to ensure compatibility. After installing the new stick of RAM, the BIOS reports the original amount of memory. What should Jose do NEXT?

Reseat the RAM. In a situation like this, when you know the RAM is compatible, the first thing you should do is simply try again. Maybe it wasn't inserted all the way. Incorrect Answers: Replacing all the RAM won't do any good. You know that the original stick works perfectly. Checking Windows Update won't fix a RAM installation issue. And your virtual memory settings are an operating system concern.

Which of the following protocols could a technician use to connect a smartphone to an e-mail server?

SMTP is for sending e-mail, and POP3 is for receiving it. This is just as true for smartphones as anything else. Incorrect Answers: HTTP is the protocol for transmitting Web pages. SNTP is used for online clock synchronization. ICMP is part of the TCP/IP suite and is generally used for transmitting error messages.

A network printer is not printing for any of the users, and the jobs sent are showing in the queues of the local machines. The printer has paper in the trays and the toner cartridge is full. The printer display shows ready on the LCD display. A technician has been able to connect with a laptop to test the network port, and is able to connect. Which of the following should the technician do to get the printer functioning again?

Since the printer jobs are queuing locally, and the printer is showing ready, the failure is likely in the spooler. Incorrect Answers: The cable does not need replacing, as the laptop was able to connect properly. A test page will only confirm the printer's function; it will not allow the users to print. The technician was able to confirm that the port connects to the network properly.

Margarita has seen plenty of System setup screens over the years, but when she presses DEL at boot on her new laptop, she sees two password options: "Setup" and "System." What are the more common terms for "Setup" and "System," respectively?

Some computer manufacturers use the terms "Setup" and "System" rather than the classic terms "Supervisor" and "User," but the options still perform the same functions. Incorrect Answers: Administrator and user passwords are used with Windows. User and Root passwords are more commonly associated with Linux systems. User and Supervisor is just a made-up answer for your benefit.

Janelle walks up to a computer and starts it up. After POST, she gets an "inaccessible boot drive" error. Which of the following would be the most obvious issue to initially consider?

Someone left a flash drive in the computer. This is a classic example of "Keep It Simple." There could be an argument for ANY of these answers, but CompTIA wants you to look for the easy answer first. People are notorious for leaving USB drives, and other removable media in computers. If the boot order looks for one of these drives, the computer will try to boot from it. Granted, on more modern PCs you usually get a "Press a key to boot from removable drive" type of error, but not all computers do this. Incorrect Answers: Any of the incorrect answers are plausible, but the question asked what to check first.

What is the IP address of the " localhost?" ​

The IP address 127.0.0.1 is known as localhost. It enables the computer to ping itself. Incorrect Answers: 169.254.136.32 is an Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) address and the other two answers are random valid IP addresses.

A user calls the helpdesk and states that they are receiving an IP conflict error on their computer. The user is on a company network that uses DHCP. The technician verifies the PC is using DHCP to obtain TCP/IP settings. Which of the following commands should the helpdesk technician use to resolve this issue? (Select two.)

The IPCONFIG /RELEASE command releases a computer's IP address, and the IPCONFIG /RENEW command gets the computer a new one. Incorrect Answers: The IPCONFIG /REGISTERDNS command refreshes a computer's DHCP lease. The IPCONFIG /ALL command displays a comprehensive list of a computer's IP information. IPCONFIG /FLUSHDNS deletes a computer's DNS cache.

On a CPU, which of the following cache levels is the smallest? ​

The L1 cache is always the smallest and fastest of the CPU caches. Incorrect Answers: The L2 and L3 caches are both larger and slower than the L1 cache. There is no such thing as an L4 cache in mainstream CPUs.

A user has just dropped off his laptop reporting that the screen is very dim and it's difficult to make out the icons on the desktop. When you plug in an external monitor to the system, it brings up the desktop perfectly. Which of the following needs to be replaced? ​ The LCD panel

The LCD inverter is likely not supplying voltage to the backlights (CCFLs) and will need to be replaced. Incorrect Answers: The external monitor was there to help us diagnose this malfunctioning laptop. And it did its job pefectly. While the LCD panel may seem like a good answer, it's probably not the BEST answer. We can still see the icons—they are just very dim and hard to make out. It's more likely a problem with the backlights or the inverters that power the backlights. The VGA card is working just fine, if it wasn't, we would have had nothing on the external monitor we connected.

You have just installed a new toner cartridge in your laser printer. You print a test page to check that everything is working correctly and you get nothing but a blank sheet of paper as your result. What is the FIRST thing you should check?

The cartridge shipping tab is the long strip that you remove from the cartridge right before you install it. If you don't remove it, no toner for you! Incorrect Answers: Shaking it would be a great idea if the printer gradually started to fade in print quality over a long period of time. Re-installing the driver wouldn't help in this situation. Replacing the corona isn't a bad idea at all, but it would probably be the last thing to do in this situation.

A user's computer will not boot. A technician notices four indicator lights on the backside of the computer. Two of the lights are green and two are amber. Which of the following documentation should the technician read to determine what the lights are indicating? ​

The computer's manual should show the technician what the lights mean. Incorrect Answers: A network diagram shows the layout of a network, not what a computer's indicator lights mean. Asset management is the practice of keeping track of supplies or other assets. A wiring scheme is a detailed report of the wiring standards used in a network.

A tech gets a distress call from a user complaining about hearing a scraping sound in his computer. What could be the problem? ​

The hard drive is failing. Hard drives tend to make various sounds when dying, such as scraping noises, high-pitched squeals, and clacking sounds. Incorrect Answers: An overheating CPU will cause the computer to run more slowly or shut down. A power supply without the proper voltage will result in a "dead" PC. A hard drive that's reformatting doesn't make a distinctive sound.

In laser printer technology, what occurs during the writing stage of the image formation?

The laser strikes the drum in the areas that are to be printed, giving those areas a less negative charge. This makes these areas relatively positive, so that they attract the toner. Incorrect Answers: The alternating charge answer is nonsense. A uniform negative charge is applied by the primary corona, but not during the writing stage. The image is transferred to the paper in the transfer stage.

A client's PC will no longer boot following the annual test of a company's back-up generator system. When the client attemps to turn on the system, the display receives no output. Upon arrival, the technician also notices there are no POST beep codes when turned on, however, the system's fans do begin to run after turning on. The client describes the fans as being louder and faster than normal. Which of the following is the MOST likely issue? ​

The motherboard is not working, because there are no beep codes. Incorrect Answers: A power test cannot erase a hard drive. RAM damage could prevent the system not to boot, however, the motherboard would still emit a POST beep code for RAM. If the power supply was not functional, the fan would not spin.

Both CD and DVD drive speeds are based on multiples of the original CD-ROM drive speed. What is that speed?

The original CD-ROM drive speed was 150 KBps. Incorrect Answers: 100 MBps was the maximum data transfer rate of ATA-6. 150 MBps is the maximum throughput of the 1.5Gb variety of SATA drives. 100 KBps is meaningless and made up.

A user is reporting that her laptop cannot connect to the wireless network from her office, even though she was able to connect yesterday. Which of the following would be the most likely reason?

The radio switch is the bane of laptop users everywhere. It's very easy to accidentally switch the wireless signal off, which many users don't think to look for. Incorrect Answers: If the radio switch was enabled, there would be no connectivity issue. Channel interference would most likely result in slower network speeds, not a connectivity issue. Assume that the user was trying to connect from the same location as yesterday.

What protocol does the largest network in the world use?

The world's largest network, the Internet, uses TCP/IP. Incorrect Answers: AppleTalk is a proprietary set of protocols developed by Apple for networking computers.This protocol is no longer used. TCP/IP is most popularly implemented via HTTP, but they are not the same. IPX/SPX are protocols for Novell's NetWare network operating system. This protocol is no longer used.

The IP address 3.4.15.124 is an example of which of the following class licenses?

This is a Class A address. The Class A first octet is from 1 to 126. Incorrect Answers: The Class B first octet is from 128 to 191. The Class C first octet is from 192 to 223. The Class D first octet is from 224 to 239.

You just upgraded the RAM on your older PC at home. When you boot up the computer, it doesn't recognize the new memory even though it was on the Qualified Vendor's List (QVL) on the manufacturer's website. What are you going to need to do to solve this problem?

Time for a BIOS flash! The website said it is compatible, but if technology has changed, your BIOS version on your motherboard may be dated. The site will often also show the BIOS version required for the hardware. Incorrect Answers: This isn't a Microsoft problem yet, so visting the Windows Update site won't do much good. The only jumpers this question writer has ever messed with on a motherboard pertained to clearing my CMOS settings and overclocking my CPU. I haven't done the latter since 1999. A bad CR-2032 battery, or CMOS battery, will only cause a system to lose settings.

USB 2.0 supports three data transfer rates: _________, _________, and _________. ​

USB 2.0 supports three data transfer rates: 1.5 Mbps, 12 Mbps, and 480 Mbps.

A virtual machine running locally would be best utilized in which of the following situation?

Virtual machines can be used to test OS or software patches before rolling them out company-wide. That way, if the patches introduce any problems, there's no harm done. Incorrect Answers: You need as much RAM as you can get in a virtualization workstation. Virtual machines aren't used to configure other computers.

A technician is replacing all of the access points in an office to increase the wireless speeds. The current location of the access points allows for wireless connectivity throughout the entire office. Which of the following 802.11 standards should be used?

When replacing the access points to increase speed of the connection, it is best to use the latest generation of the standard. The standard offers backward compatibility to most previous standards. Incorrect Answers: All the standards are older standards, and do not have the latest technology. 802.11ac provides faster throughput.

What happens when you attempt to print to a phantom print device

When you print to a phantom or virtual print device, the software printer takes the print job and processes it. Then nothing else happens. Incorrect Answers: As long as the printer software is valid, Windows will not report anything unusual or missing.

What would cause a laser printer to generate a totally black sheet? ​

With no power to the primary corona, toner will be transferred to the entire drum, creating a totally black sheet. Incorrect Answers: Low toner would cause a lighter image to be printed, not a black one. With no power to the transfer corona, the paper would be blank. If anything, a malfunctioning laser would cause a lighter image, not a darker one.