CompTIA A+ Practice Test (220-1201)

Swollen or leaking capacitors indicate that the motherboard's voltage-regulation circuitry is failing. Because capacitor replacement requires board-level soldering skills and voids most warranties, A+-level field technicians typically replace the entire motherboard with a known-good board that matches the original specifications. Adding fans, testing RAM, or updating drivers will not correct the underlying hardware fault.

The correct choice is a patch panel. A patch panel provides a field-terminating point for each structured-cabling run and exposes those terminations as modular RJ-45 ports on the front of the rack. Short patch cords can then connect any port to a switch, making moves, adds, and changes simple without disturbing the permanent cabling. An unmanaged switch, router, or wireless access point actively forwards traffic but does not provide fixed cable terminations for large numbers of horizontal runs.

Frequent, unexplained shutdowns are most often linked to an unstable or failing power-supply unit (PSU). If the PSU cannot deliver consistent voltage-because of internal component failure, aging capacitors, or external line sags-the system will abruptly lose power. In contrast, CPU thermal problems are usually preceded by fan noise or temperature warnings; bad RAM tends to generate POST beeps or blue-screen errors; and motherboard faults typically appear as POST failures or complete power loss, not intermittent shutdowns. Therefore, start by verifying PSU output and connections.

When a storage device is confirmed to be powered and internally connected but not visible in the file explorer, the next step should be to check the disk management utility. It is possible the drive does not have an assigned drive letter, or it is not initialized, which would prevent it from appearing in the file explorer, but it might still be visible within the disk management. The other provided answers are less likely to resolve the issue at this stage. Updating interface controller drivers or replacing the interface data cable would be premature because if these were the issues, the drive typically wouldn't appear in disk management either. Reviewing external connections would not be relevant since the issue is with an internally mounted storage device.

PaaS provides a complete development environment in the cloud, meaning developers can build and deploy applications without worrying about underlying infrastructure like servers or networking. This allows for rapid development and deployment cycles, making it ideal for dynamic, scalable applications. While other aspects such as cost-effectiveness, integrated development tools, and security are also important, the key benefit of PaaS is the ability to develop, deploy, and manage applications efficiently.

Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) is a high-performance protocol that defines how a system reads from and writes to non-volatile solid-state storage over PCIe. Because it is a protocol (logical interface), it can be implemented on drives that use various physical form factors and connectors such as M.2, U.2, or add-in PCIe cards. M.2, by contrast, is merely a physical form-factor specification, not a storage protocol, so the two are not directly comparable.

A Power over Ethernet injector is used in scenarios where a device requires both power and data but the network switch in use doesn't support PoE. The injector adds power capabilities to the network line allowing the device to be powered over the same cable as the data, thus eliminating the need for a separate power source. A PoE splitter is incorrect because it performs the opposite function, separating the power and data signals at the receiving end. An Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) is used for power backup and cannot inject PoE into the cable. And a network switch with built-in PoE is not applicable because the scenario specified that the switch lacks PoE.

Sharing a device's cellularly connected internet to nearby devices is called tethering.

A biometric scan (fingerprint or facial recognition) is an inherence factor-"something the user is"-and therefore different from the SMS one-time code, which is a possession factor-"something the user has". Using two different categories of factors provides true MFA and, in most environments, biometrics are considered stronger and more phishing-resistant than a knowledge factor such as a passcode.

While a complex device passcode is also a valid knowledge factor, it does not offer the same level of resistance to phishing or shoulder-surfing attacks as biometrics. Placing email in a secure folder does not add an authentication factor, and adding recovery email addresses is an account-recovery step, not authentication.

Secure Shell (SSH) operates over port 22 and provides a secure method of accessing network services over an unsecured network. When it comes to file transfers, SSH is the protocol that is commonly used to secure them. SSH uses encryption to secure the connection between the client and server, making it the best choice for encrypted file transfers. While FTP (port 20/21) is used for file transfers, it is not inherently secure. Telnet (port 23) is used for remote command-line login and does not support file transfers. Port 110 is used by POP3 for email retrieval and does not involve direct file transfer capabilities.

A blinking green LED next to a hard drive typically indicates normal operational activity such as reading from or writing to the drive. This does not signal an error or failure. On the opposite side, a solid green usually means the drive has power but is not currently in active use. A blinking amber can indicate a drive failure or a fault, while a solid amber might signify a serious issue like hardware failure. It is important for technicians to distinguish these statuses for efficient troubleshooting.

Warehouses accumulate dust that can clog or seize cooling fans. A failing fan often produces a high-pitched squeal when its bearings wear out. With the fan unable to move air, the CPU and internal components overheat, triggering system instability such as random freezes or reboots. Battery issues or sticking keys would not create the described noise, and bad driver software would not account for the mechanical squeal.

The standard port for unencrypted Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is TCP port 389. LDAP over SSL/TLS (LDAPS), which is encrypted, uses TCP port 636. Port 53 is used by the Domain Name System (DNS), and port 443 is the standard for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) traffic.

The Lightning plug is designed so that the eight pins are duplicated on both sides, allowing it to be inserted into the port with either side facing up. Older micro-USB plugs are keyed and work only in one orientation. Lightning does not use fiber-optic conductors, does not rely on a keyed notch for alignment, and it has 8 pins-not 24-for Thunderbolt video output.

The fuser assembly uses heat and pressure to melt the toner particles into the paper fibers. If the fuser does not reach or maintain the correct temperature (or its pressure roller is damaged), the toner will not bond to the paper and will appear as loose black dust or smears. Replacing the fuser or adjusting the media type settings in the printer is the typical fix. A bad toner cartridge or transfer roller can cause other defects, but they will not leave large areas of unfused toner that rubs off.