COMPUTER PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

Questions and Answers

1. You are working for a small business as a computer tech. You notice
that one of the users keeps shutting her computer down by pressing the
power button, instead of using the shut down process of the operating
system. You inform the user that this is not a good practice because?
(choose 2)
A. Over time it could cause component failure
B. Power surges to components could cause damage
C. It takes time for the power supply to recharge
D. It could damage the monitor

2. What are the two ways hardware can fail?

A. Electronically
B. Statically
C. Physically
D. Sonically

3. Sally complains that her laptop is overheating, even though all the
internal cooling systems are working properly. What suggestions could
you make to her, that would help her situation?
A. Don't leave her laptop on for extended periods of time
B. Buy a cooling pad for laptops
C. Install a liquid cooling system
D. Buy a new laptop

4. When determining if the problem is related to hardware or software,

Which of the following is one of the most important questions to ask?
A. Is the computer plugged in
B. What operating system are you using
C. Have you recently installed any new hardware or software
D. Does the monitor work

5. If the mouse pointer moves intermittently on the screen but has not
failed altogether, which of the following troubleshooting steps should you
take?
A. Check its connection to the port
B. Clean the mouse
C. Reinstall the drivers
D. Check for a conflict with the modem
6. Billy complains that his computer is giving excessive error messages,
the file names and folder names are garbled, and there is an odd noise
coming from his tower. What do you suspect as the problem?
A. The ram chips
B. The power supply
C. The hard drive
D. The operating system

7. Which of the following error messages might you receive when there
is a problem with ram? choose all that apply.
A. Memory address error
B. Memory test fails
C. Cmos error
D. Memory parity error at xxx

8. Which of the following error messages might you receive when there
is a keyboard problem? choose all that apply.
A. Checksum error
B. Kb/interface error
C. Gate A20 failure
D. Fix keyboard 0 failure

9. What does a checksum error represent?

A. A problem with ram
B. A problem with the operating system
C. A problem with the hard drive
D. A problem with cmos

10. What does a fixed disk 0 failure represent?

A. A problem with the hard drive
B. A problem with the operating system
C. A problem with cmos
D. A problem with the floppy drive

11. A client calls and asks your a question about flashing their bios.
What information and advice should you instruct them to obtain before
doing this? choose all that apply.
A. Check to see which version of bios you have
B. Check the manufacturer's website for updates on the version you
have
C. Always use third party software to flash your bios
D. Check and write down the model number of your computer and other
important information
 12. Which of the following could be used to fix a windows start up
problem? choose all that apply.
A. Use last know good configuration
B. Use safe mode
C. Use cmos to change settings to default
D. Use a bootable disk from an earlier version of you operating system

13. A user complains that his pc crashes during windows xp start up.
Which of the following would you suggest for him to correct the problem?
A. Change his cmos settings
B. Enable vga mode from windows advanced options
C. Use last known good configurations
D. Use check disk utility

14. What does an error code of 17xx displayed on the screen indicate?
A. A keyboard error
B. A hard disk error
C. A display error
D. A system board error

15. What does and error code of 1xx displayed on the screen indicate?
A. A keyboard error
B. A hard disk error
C. A display error
D. A system board error

16. What does an error code of 3xx displayed on the screen indicate?
A. A keyboard error
B. A hard disk error
C. A display error
D. A system board error

17. What does an error code of 6xx displayed on the screen indicate?
A. A keyboard error
B. A hard disk error
C. A floppy drive error
D. A system board error

18. Which of the following could help you fix intermittent pc problems?
choose all that apply.
A. Use system restore
B. Perform a clean boot
C. Use checksum utility
D. Use undo recent changes option
 19. A client complains that his cd-rom seems to vibrate and has a hard
time playing his favorite cd. What is most likely the problem?
A. Defective cd-rom
B. The tray on the cd-rom is defective
C. The cd is defective
D. The cd- rom's spindle is defective

20. Barry complains his dvd burner is not burning at its maximum speed
because it takes forever to burn a disk. What are some simple things you
can do to correct this problem? choose 2
A. Replace the dvd burner
B. Perform firmware update
C. Enable dma
D. Overclock the media

21. Sally complains that her computer has changed the drive letters and
she does not understand why. What should you suspect, based on what
sally has told you?
A. The hard drive is about to crash
B. The operating system is corrupt
C. She has recently added or removed a storage device
D. Her system has a virus

22. A client complains after doing some routine cleaning and

maintenance inside the case, her hard drive does not seem to spin up
when she boots her system and she gets fixed disk error messages.
What is the first thing you should suspect the problem is?
A. A loose 34 pin ribbon cable
B. A loose molex connector
C. Esd
D. Hard drive failure

23. Larry complains that he is having a problem playing some of his

older games on his windows xp system. What utility could help solve the
problem?
A. Program compatibility wizard
B. Setup wizard
C. Install/uninstall wizard
D. Zip wizard
 24. A user complains that they can not hear any sound on their
computer. What are some simple things you should consider concerning
this problem? choose 2
A. Defective graphics card
B. Bad cable connection
C. Volume not up on the monitor
D. Power cable to speaker not connected

25. You are called to a small business using a wireless router running
on an 802.11a standard. You notice the router is in one room and the
access point is in another room about 100 feet away. The manager
explains they are having trouble connecting to the network. What is the
problem?
A. The router is defective
B. The router is to far away from the access point
C. The access point is defective
D. There is too much interference from outside machines

26. Q. If the video on your laptop is not working, what should you do to
troubleshoot it? (Choose two.)
A. Toggle the video function key.
B. Try using an external monitor.
C. Remove the display unit and reattach it.
D. Power the system off and back on.

27. While inspecting a motherboard, you notice a discolored area. What

usually causes this?
A. Spilled liquid
B. Improper manufacture
C. Power surge
D. Underclocking

28. You need to connect a client computer to a shared network drive

from the command prompt. Which command should you use?
A. NET USE
B. NETSTAT
C. NSLOOKUP
D. IPCONFIG
29. Every computer has a diagnostic program built into its BIOS called
the _____________.
A. CMOS
B. BIOS
C. POST
D. DNS
30. While troubleshooting a client computer, you decide to obtain a new
IP address from the DHCP server. After releasing the existing address,
which command do you use to get new IP information from the DHCP
server?
A. IPCONFIG /REFRESH
B. IPCONFIG /RENEW
C. IFCONFIG /RELEASE
D. IFCONFIG /START
31. Users are complaining that their print jobs are not printing. You open
the print queue and see 50 jobs lined up. The printer is connected
properly and online. What should you do?
A. Open Printer Troubleshooting and have it diagnose the problem.
B. Stop and restart the print spooler.
C. Delete and reinstall the printer.
D. Delete and reinstall Windows
32. What two devices are commonly used to cool components within a
PC? (Choose two.)
A. Fans
B. Compressed air
C. Freon
D. Heat sink
34. You are having problems with the video card in one of your
computers. Where could you check for troubleshooting information?
A. Another computer with the same video card
B. The video card manufacturer’s website
C. The manual that came with the card
D. The server log
35. Your laser printer keeps printing vertical black lines on its output
pages. What is the most likely cause of the problem?
A. There is a groove or scratch in the EP drum.
B. The EP drum-cleaning blade is broken.
C. The printer is low on toner.
D. The transfer corona wire is not working properly.
36. You have an inkjet printer. Recently, papers are being printed with
excessive amounts of ink, and the ink is smearing. What is the most
likely cause of the problem?
A. A faulty ink cartridge
B. A corrupt print driver
C. A faulty fuser
D. Too much humidity in the air
37. The display on your laptop appears warped and fuzzy. You plug in
an external monitor, and the image on it is fine. What is the most likely
cause of the problem?
A. The video card
B. The LCD display
C. The motherboard
D. The video driver
38.  You are working with a system that is assigned IP configuration
information from a central server. You wish to view the IP information on
the system. Which of the following commands would you use from the
command prompt?
A. IPCONFIG /REFRESH
B. IPCONFIG /ALL
C. IPCONFIG /RENEW
D. WINIPCFG /ALL
39.  When you print documents on your laser printer, you see residue
from previous images on the output. What two things are the most likely
causes of this problem? (Choose two.)
A. A faulty transfer corona wire
B. An overheating printer
C. A bad erasure lamp
D. A broken cleaning blade
40. You turn a computer on, but nothing shows up on the monitor.
Instead of one beep, you hear one long beep followed by three short
beeps. What is the problem?
A. The video card is dead.
B. The motherboard is dead.
C. The BIOS is not functioning.
D. Not enough information; you need to look up the beep code to
determine the problem.
41. Which of the following Windows command-line utilities is used to
verify the route a data packet takes to a remote host?
A. Trace
B. Tracert
C. TraceRoute
D. Tracepacket
42. You turn a computer on and it doesn’t boot up properly. From inside
the case, you hear a rhythmic ticking sound. What is most likely the
problem?
A. The motherboard
B. The power supply fan
C. The hard drive
D. The video card
43. You support an old dot-matrix printer at work. When the printer
prints, there is always a blank horizontal line in the middle of each line of
output. What is the most likely cause of the problem?
A. The print ribbon is old and needs to be replaced.
B. The print ribbon is not advancing properly.
C. The print head needs to be replaced.
D. The wrong print driver is installed.
44. A user calls saying that his laptop won’t power on. He charged it all
night, so he knows that the battery is fine. What should you have him do
first?
A. Plug the laptop in using an AC adapter and try to power it on.
B. Replace the battery with a spare and try to power it on.
C. Toggle the battery power switch on the front of the laptop, and
then try to power it on.
D. Send the laptop in for service.

45. You suspect a faulty network card on a client machine. Which tool

can you use to test your hypothesis?

A. Wireless locator
B. Cable tester
C. Toner probe
D. Loopback plug
46. You are troubleshooting a server and discover that one of the hard
drives in the RAID 0 array has failed. Which statement is true?
A. You need to replace the failed drive, but the data is okay because
it is configured as a mirror.
B. You need to replace the failed drive, but the data is okay because
it is configured as a disk stripe with parity.
C. You need to replace the failed drive, and the data on the array is
lost.
D. You do not need to replace the failed drive; the system will function
normally.
 47.  If your computer monitor turns on but doesn’t seem to display
an image (or even the built-in info screen), what is probably
wrong?
A. Your computer monitor isn’t connected to your computer
correctly.
B. The light bulb (or LED bulb) which provides the lighting for
your monitor isn’t working correctly
C. The monitor firmware is broken.
D. You used the wrong device driver on your computer for
your current monitor
 
48. What is the most likely cause of a Windows Error (Blue Screen
of Death) on a typical home computer?
A. Bad computer memory (RAM) causes most Windows
errors.
B. Damage to the operating system (Windows) from a
computer virus causes most Windows errors.
C. Bugs in Microsoft Windows cause most Windows errors.
D. Bugs in non-Microsoft products cause most Windows
errors.
 
49.What are two computer problems easily diagnosed just by
listening to your computer?
A.You can hear sound card problems and video card
problems.
B.  You can hear memory problems and computer monitor
problems.
C. You can hear magnetic hard drive problems and fan
problems.
D. You can hear network card problems and CPU problems.
 
50. Can you replace a sound card or video card built into your
motherboard (integrated sound and video)?
A. Yes, you can replace built-in components by using the
right replacement modules.
B. Yes, you can replace built-in components using generic
replacement modules.
C. Yes, you can replace built-in components, but you will
need custom replacement parts
D. No, you can’t normally replace built-in components
51. What is a simple way to fix many problems with USB devices?
A. Buy a new device to replace the one which doesn’t work.
B. Use a shorter cord.
C. Plug the device into the USB port upside down.
D. Run the device through a USB adapter to clean up the
signal.  
52. What is the name of the system built into most hard drives
which predict how long until they’ll fail?
A. Power-On Self-Theck (POST) can warn you when a
device will fail.
B. Redundant Array (of) Independent Disks (RAID) can warn
you when a device will fail
C. Self-Monitoring And Reporting Technology (SMART) can
warn you when a device will fail.
D. Microsoft Checkdisk can warn you when a device will fail.
53. What is usually the easiest way to fix an application which
won’t start any more?
A. Run your virus scanner to fix the application because you
probably have a virus.
B. Reboot your computer to fix the application because it’s
probably a system error.
C. Uninstall and reinstall the application to reset the
application completely.
D. Run Windows Registry repair software to fix the
application because it’s probably a registry error.
54. If you get strange errors on your computer and don’t have a
virus, what should you check next?
A. You should check your firewall in case a hacker is trying
to break into your computer.
B. You should check your BIOS in case you don’t have Plug
and Play enabled.
C. You should check your computer memory (RAM) in case
it’s starting to fail.
D. You should check your Windows Updates for any patches
you need to install.
55. If your computer is running slow, what default Windows
program will help you find which program is using all of your
processing power (CPU) or memory?
A. You can use Task Manager to find the offending program.
B. You can use the Control Panel to find the offending
program.
C. You can use Scandisk to find the offending program
D. You can use the Device Manager to find the offending
program.