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Hardware

5 free questions with worked answers, and 200 more in the full bank.

Free questions

More Hardware questions (page 1 of 4)

Answers and explanations are in the full bank.

• A user reports that their PC “is not working”. What should a technician do first? · 1 mark
• A monitor shows nothing. When forming a theory of probable cause, what should the technician check first? · 1 mark
• A technician confirms that a file server's failing disk is causing its errors. Replacing it will take the server offline for an hour. What is the next step in the troubleshooting method? · 2 marks
• After replacing a clogged CPU fan, the technician confirms the PC no longer overheats. What else belongs to this step before documenting? · 2 marks
• What is the final step of the standard troubleshooting method? · 1 mark
• A PC crashes randomly. A technician replaces the RAM, the power supply and the graphics driver all at once, and the crashes stop. What is wrong with this approach? · 2 marks
• A laptop with slow, grinding disk activity is going to the vendor for repair. What should be done before it leaves? · 2 marks
• A technician finds that a server under a vendor warranty has a faulty system board. Opening the chassis would void the warranty. What should they do? · 2 marks
• A PC restarts randomly. The technician fits a power supply taken from an identical, working PC, and the restarts stop. The suspect power supply is then fitted to the working PC, which starts restarting. What does this show? · 3 marks
• Before installing a memory module, what should a technician wear to protect the components from static electricity? · 1 mark
• What should be done before opening a desktop PC's case to replace a component? · 1 mark
• A desktop power supply has failed. Why should a technician replace the whole unit rather than open it to repair it? · 2 marks
• Paper is jammed deep inside a laser printer, near the fuser. What precaution should be taken? · 2 marks
• A laptop's touchpad has started to bulge upwards and the case no longer closes flat. What should the technician do? · 2 marks
• A strong burning smell comes from a desktop PC, and a little smoke is visible near the back. What is the first action? · 1 mark
• A desktop PC shows no lights and no fan movement when the power button is pressed. What should be checked first? · 1 mark
• Using a power supply tester, a technician measures the +12 V rail at 11.1 V under load. ATX supplies should stay within ±5% of nominal. What should they conclude? · 3 marks
• After a PC was moved to another office, its fans spin when switched on but nothing appears on screen and it does not start. Which step is the most likely quick fix? · 2 marks
• After a more powerful graphics card is installed, a PC works normally in office tasks but restarts without warning whenever a demanding 3D application runs. What is the most likely cause? · 3 marks
• A technician moves a working motherboard into a new case. Now nothing happens when the case's power button is pressed, although the motherboard's standby LED is on. What is the likely cause? · 3 marks
• A PC starts normally but switches itself off after about ten minutes of use, every time. The CPU cooler was removed and refitted last week. What is the most likely cause? · 2 marks
• A PC gives a pattern of one long beep and three short beeps at power-on and does not start. How should the technician interpret it? · 3 marks
• A modern motherboard has four small status LEDs labelled CPU, DRAM, VGA and BOOT. At power-on the DRAM LED stays lit and the PC never displays anything. Where should the technician look first? · 3 marks
• Every time an office PC is unplugged overnight, its date and time reset to the year 2010 and the BIOS settings return to defaults. What should be replaced? · 2 marks
• After an over-ambitious memory overclock in the BIOS, a desktop no longer shows any image at start-up. How can the firmware settings be returned to defaults without entering setup? · 3 marks
• A monitor is on and shows “No signal”, and the PC is clearly running. The monitor has HDMI, DisplayPort and VGA inputs. What is a quick first check? · 1 mark
• After a graphics card is installed, the monitor shows nothing. The monitor cable is still plugged into the video port on the motherboard's rear panel. What is wrong? · 2 marks
• A desktop monitor flickers and sometimes goes black for a second, especially when the desk is bumped. What is the most likely cause? · 2 marks
• A laptop screen looks black, but when a torch is shone at it from an angle, the desktop icons are faintly visible. What has failed? · 3 marks
• A laptop's built-in screen stays dark, but an external monitor connected to its HDMI port shows the desktop normally. What does this indicate? · 2 marks
• During demanding 3D work, a PC's screen fills with coloured blocks, dots and stray lines that were not there before, then the application crashes. What is the most likely cause? · 3 marks
• A laptop is connected to a meeting-room projector, but the projector shows only a blank desktop without the presentation. Which shortcut quickly switches to showing the same image on both? · 1 mark
• Text on a new flat-panel monitor looks slightly blurry. Display settings show a resolution lower than the one marked “(Recommended)”. What should be done? · 1 mark
• A new high-end graphics card is installed, the PC powers on and its fans spin, but there is no display and the card's fans stay still. What was most likely forgotten? · 3 marks
• A second monitor is connected, but it only mirrors the first one. The user wants to drag windows from one screen to the other. Which display setting is needed? · 1 mark
• A USB-C docking station charges a laptop and its USB ports work, but the monitors attached to the dock stay blank. On another laptop the same dock drives both monitors. What is the likely reason? · 3 marks
• A desktop's hard disk has started making repeated clicking noises, and files take a long time to open. What should be done first? · 1 mark
• At start-up a PC shows “S.M.A.R.T. status BAD, backup and replace”. What is S.M.A.R.T.? · 2 marks
• An older office PC with a mechanical hard disk takes several minutes to become usable after sign-in, and Task Manager shows Disk at 100% while CPU and memory are low. Which upgrade helps most? · 2 marks
• A second SATA hard disk has been installed in a desktop, but it does not appear in the BIOS/UEFI list of drives. What should be checked first? · 2 marks
• After a technician resets the BIOS to defaults, Windows fails to start with the stop code INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE. Nothing else was changed. What is the most likely cause? · 3 marks
• A USB external disk lights up when connected, but it does not appear in File Explorer. Which is the most useful next check? · 2 marks
• A PC shows different blue-screen errors at random times, often mentioning memory. Which tool helps confirm whether the RAM is faulty? · 2 marks
• A technician adds a second 8 GB module to a desktop, but Windows and the BIOS still report only 8 GB. What should be checked first? · 2 marks
• A desktop that worked perfectly no longer passes POST after its RAM is replaced with faster modules bought online. The old modules still work. What is the best next step? · 3 marks
• A BIOS/UEFI firmware update is needed to support a new processor. What precaution matters most during the update? · 3 marks
• Several laptops with the same SSD model occasionally freeze and the drive disappears until restart. The SSD maker has published a notice about this. What is the likely fix? · 2 marks
• After a user changed display settings, the monitor now shows “Input not supported” and nothing else. What is the likely cause and fix? · 2 marks
• On a new LCD monitor, one tiny point always stays bright red, whatever is displayed. What is this called? · 1 mark
• A monitor's power light is amber instead of its usual white, and the screen is black. What does this usually mean? · 1 mark
• On a small laptop without a separate number pad, typing the letters U, I and O produces 4, 5 and 6. What is the most likely cause? · 1 mark
• A wireless mouse has become jumpy and sometimes stops responding for a few seconds. What should be tried first? · 1 mark
• Windows shows “USB device not recognised” when a scanner is connected through a cheap unpowered hub. What is the best first test? · 2 marks
• When an external hard disk is connected, Windows reports “Power surge on the USB port” and the port stops working until the disk is removed. What does this indicate? · 3 marks
• A laptop's touchpad suddenly stops responding, although an external USB mouse works. What should be checked first? · 1 mark
• After a Bluetooth headset was used yesterday, a PC's speakers now produce no sound, although the volume is up. What is the likely cause? · 1 mark
• A laptop's camera works in the Camera app, but a video-meeting program shows only a black box. What should be checked? · 2 marks
• Tea is spilled on a laptop keyboard while it is running. What is the correct immediate response? · 2 marks
• A new Bluetooth keyboard does not appear in the list when Windows searches for devices. What is the most likely reason? · 1 mark
• How should jammed paper be removed from a printer? · 1 mark