Computer Hardware and Software Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Correct answer: Low humidity

Dry air is an insulator, so charge accumulates on a body instead of leaking away. Humid air conducts just enough to bleed it off, which is why static problems are worst in winter and in air-conditioned rooms.

Answer: A

Correct answer: ASYNC port

A modem is an asynchronous serial device, so it attaches to the asynchronous serial port - internally, to a serial port on the card itself. The parallel port is for printers.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Battery back-up unit

Only a UPS keeps the machine running through a power interruption, so that work in memory is written out and the system shut down properly. A surge protector guards against excess voltage but supplies nothing when the mains fails.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Resistor

A SCSI bus must be terminated at both physical ends by a resistor network, which absorbs the signal and prevents it reflecting back down the cable. Missing or doubled termination is the commonest cause of an unreliable SCSI chain.

Answer: C

Correct answer: on the secondary IDE

Two devices on one IDE channel share it, and the channel runs at the speed of the slower. Putting the CD-ROM on the secondary channel leaves the hard disk alone on the primary, where it is not held back.

Answer: D

Correct answer: wear an ESD wrist strap

A wrist strap holds the technician at the same potential as the equipment continuously, so no charge can build up. Touching a ground point works only until the next movement generates a fresh charge.

Answer: D

Correct answer: 15

Four bits give \(2^4 = 16\) distinct patterns, running from 0 to 15.

\[1111_2 = 8 + 4 + 2 + 1 = 15\]

Answering 16 counts the patterns rather than naming the largest value.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Starting a computer and loading its operating system

Booting is the process of starting a computer and loading its operating system into memory. The word comes from bootstrapping, from the impossible image of lifting oneself by one’s own bootstraps - the machine must run a program in order to load a program. The sequence is fixed. The processor executes firmware - BIOS or UEFI - from a chip on the motherboard; the POST checks the essential hardware; the firmware finds a boot device according to the configured order; it loads the bootstrap loader from it; and that loads the operating system kernel, which then starts the rest of the system. A cold boot starts from a powered-off state and runs the full self test; a warm boot restarts a running machine, skipping some checks - the reset combination Ctrl + Alt + Del. Dual booting means having more than one operating system installed with a menu to choose between them.

Answer: A

Correct answer: The floppy

IRQ6 is the floppy disk controller. IRQ1 is the keyboard and IRQ5 is usually LPT2 or a sound card.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Check its connections to the computer and power source

Cables and power are checked first because they are the commonest fault, cost nothing to check, and carry no risk. Opening a monitor exposes stored charges of tens of kilovolts and should never be the first step.