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Hardware

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

Free questions

More Hardware questions (page 2 of 4)

Answers and explanations are in the full bank.

• A laser printer's pages have become evenly pale and faded across the whole sheet. What is the most likely cause? · 1 mark
• Every page from a laser printer has the same thin black line running from top to bottom, in exactly the same place. Which part is most likely at fault? · 2 marks
• Printed text from a laser printer looks fine, but it smudges and rubs off when touched with a finger. Which component is most likely failing? · 3 marks
• A laser printer produces pages where a faint copy of the text appears again a few centimetres lower on the same page. What is this called and where is it usually traced? · 3 marks
• An inkjet printer that was unused for a month now prints with thin white gaps across text, and one colour is missing. What should be done first? · 2 marks
• A printer prints pages full of random symbols and odd code instead of the document. What is the most likely cause? · 2 marks
• An office printer often pulls in several sheets at once or fails to pick up paper at all, even with a new ream. What is the most likely cause? · 3 marks
• A new roll is loaded into a thermal receipt printer at a revenue office, and receipts now come out completely blank, although the printer seems to print normally. What is the most likely cause? · 3 marks
• Speakers connected to a desktop PC give a constant low hum that disappears when the PC's audio cable is unplugged, and changes when the monitor is plugged into a different socket. What is the likely cause? · 3 marks
• A laptop shows no sign of life, even on its charger, after it froze and was forced off. The charger's light is on. Before sending it for repair, which step often revives it? · 3 marks
• Documents sent from a PC come out wrongly formatted on a network printer. How can the technician quickly find out whether the fault lies in the printer or in the computer? · 2 marks
• Documents scanned through a multifunction printer's automatic document feeder all have a thin vertical line, but scans placed on the flatbed glass are clean. What is the likely cause? · 2 marks
• A user's documents keep printing on whichever printer they used last, rather than on the office printer they want as their usual one. Which Windows setting explains this? · 2 marks
• A USB barcode scanner at a stores office beeps when it reads a code, but nothing appears in the stock system. It works when the cursor is placed in the item code field. Why? · 2 marks
• A headset with one four-contact 3.5 mm plug gives sound on a desktop's green jack, but its microphone does not work. The desktop has separate pink and green jacks. What is the fix? · 2 marks
• A desktop has no network connection, and the small light beside its Ethernet port is off. What should be checked first? · 1 mark
• A laptop shows no Wi-Fi networks at all, while phones in the same room connect normally. What is a quick first check? · 1 mark
• A technician suspects that a server's Ethernet port itself is faulty, not the cable or the switch. Which simple tool tests the port by feeding its transmitted signal straight back into it? · 3 marks
• A newly made patch cable gives no link, although the equipment at both ends works with other cables. Which tool confirms whether each wire is connected correctly end to end? · 2 marks
• A desktop in a dusty district office has become noisy and slow, and it feels hot. When opened, the fan grilles are clogged with dust. What should be done? · 1 mark
• A technician removes a CPU cooler to clean it. What should be done before refitting it? · 2 marks
• A laptop runs fast for the first few minutes of a large spreadsheet calculation, then becomes much slower, and its underside is very hot. What is happening? · 2 marks
• An officer often works with a laptop resting on a bed or cushion, and it overheats and shuts down. What simple advice helps most? · 1 mark
• A desktop has started making a loud grinding or rattling noise that changes when the PC is working hard. The disk is an SSD. What is the most likely source? · 2 marks
• A technician wants to confirm a suspicion that a PC crashes because its processor overheats. What is the most direct way to check? · 2 marks
• A staff smartphone's battery that used to last a day now empties by lunchtime, starting last week. Where should the user look first? · 1 mark
• A phone charges only if the cable is held at an angle. The cable works with other phones. What is a common, cheap fix? · 1 mark
• Part of a tablet's touchscreen ignores taps since a thick, cracked screen protector was fitted. What should be tried first? · 2 marks
• A phone returned for warranty repair has a small internal sticker that has turned red. What does this usually tell the technician? · 2 marks
• An eight-year-old desktop crashes and restarts at random. Inside, several cylindrical components near the CPU socket have domed or crusty tops. What does this indicate? · 3 marks
• After a cleaning, a PC stops at start-up with “CPU Fan Error! Press F1 to continue”. What is the likely cause? · 2 marks
• A newly built PC works when its motherboard is tested on the bench, but once screwed into the case it will not power on. What should the technician check? · 3 marks
• A laptop's screen flickers or goes black only when the lid is opened past a certain angle, and returns when it is moved back. What is the most likely fault? · 3 marks
• A PC freezes about once a week and works perfectly whenever the technician visits. What is the best way to make progress? · 3 marks
• A PC restarts by itself several times a day. The technician notices that it happens when the large laser printer on the same power strip starts warming up. What is the likely cause? · 3 marks
• A phone becomes very hot while charging in its thick rubber case on a sunny windowsill. What should the user do? · 1 mark
• A PC with 4 GB of RAM is slow whenever the user has a browser, email and a large spreadsheet open. Task Manager shows memory at 95% while CPU use is low. Which change helps most? · 2 marks
• A technician needs to enter the UEFI setup of a new PC, but pressing Del or F2 at start-up does nothing because the screen goes straight to Windows. The USB keyboard works fine in Windows. What is the easiest way in? · 3 marks
• A user pulled out a flash drive straight after the copy dialog closed, and the copied file later turned out to be damaged. What should they do in future? · 2 marks
• An external disk holding the only copy of a project was unplugged during a copy. Now Windows says “You need to format the disk before you can use it”, and Disk Management shows it as RAW. What should the technician do? · 3 marks
• What is the main benefit of a processor with more cores? · 1 mark
• A processor is advertised as running at 3.6 GHz. What does this figure describe? · 1 mark
• Processor specifications list L1, L2 and L3 cache. What is CPU cache? · 2 marks
• A PC's processor has 8 cores, but Task Manager shows 16 logical processors. Why? · 2 marks
• A technician wants to upgrade a desktop's processor. Which compatibility check comes first? · 2 marks
• A processor's specification lists a TDP of 125 W. How should a technician use this figure? · 3 marks
• An office PC has no graphics card, yet its monitor works through the video port on the motherboard. What provides the graphics? · 1 mark
• A ministry is considering Windows laptops with ARM processors for their long battery life. What compatibility point must be checked before buying? · 3 marks
• A PC uses an all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooler. Its radiator fans spin normally, yet the processor overheats within minutes. Which part of the cooler has most likely failed? · 2 marks
• What is the job of the finned metal block mounted on top of a processor? · 1 mark
• A technician tries to fit a DDR5 memory module into a motherboard with DDR4 slots, and it will not go in. Why? · 1 mark
• Which memory module form factor is used in most laptops that have upgradeable RAM? · 1 mark
• A desktop has four memory slots and the technician is installing two identical 8 GB modules. How should they be placed for best performance? · 2 marks
• Why do servers that hold important databases normally use ECC memory? · 2 marks
• Memory sold as 6000 MT/s shows only 4800 MT/s in the BIOS after installation. The modules are healthy. What should be done? · 2 marks
• A desktop has one 3200 MT/s module, and a technician adds a second module rated 2666 MT/s. If the system runs stably, at what speed will the memory normally operate? · 3 marks
• The ICT unit is buying thin laptops with 8 GB of RAM, planning to upgrade them later. The specification says the memory is “onboard (soldered)”. What does this mean? · 2 marks
• Module X is DDR4-3200 CL16 and module Y is DDR4-3600 CL22. True latency in nanoseconds is CL × 2000 ÷ MT/s. Which has the lower latency? · 3 marks
• Spare memory taken from a retired server is labelled “RDIMM”. A technician tries it in an ordinary desktop, which will not start. Why? · 3 marks
• A motherboard has two memory slots, and its manual states a maximum of 32 GB per slot. What is the most memory the PC can hold? · 2 marks