Wrong Answers (Dion 2)

What is FTTN / FTTC / FTTB?

Fiber to the Node / Cabinet / Building.

Broadband architecture where ISP fiber runs to a central neighborhood distribution box, which then runs to properties using traditional cable/coax.

FTTC is basically the same thing, but the copper/coax wire is shorter.

FTTB uses this principle but the fiber runs into the basement/comms room of a large commercial building before being converted.

What is FTTP / FTTH?

Fiber to the Premises / Home.

ISP fiber optic cables run directly into the property.

FTTH is used specifically when it is a residential property rather than commercial site.

What is HFC?

Hybrid fiber-coaxial.

Just a wire that carries both fiber and coaxial signals (fiber over the long distance, coaxial into nodes).

Exactly what cable internet providers use. Compatible with FTTN/FTTC/FTTB.

Unlike FTTx options, HFC is asymmetric. Download speeds > upload speeds.

Which FTTx options use shared bandwidth?

FTTN, FTTC, FTTB.

What is the main difference between a docking station and a port replicator?

A docking station provides additional functionalities such as power supply and peripheral connections.

A port replicator primarily just adds USB connections for peripherals, without offering extra features.

What is the best cooling solution for an advanced system (crypto mining or gaming PCs with lots of processing and expansion cards)?

Liquid cooling system.

The best way to deal with heat in an extremely high powered processing environment.

What is the faster wired data transfer connector for mobile devices?

USB-C.

Fucking idiot.

A PC requires 420W. What PSU should you buy- 250W, 750W, 525W, or 350W?

525W.

Always choose the next highest wattage. It must be greater than what is required to meet minimum power requirements.

Which page description language produces higher quality outputs at the expense of speed?

PostScript.

PCL is the standard, PostScript is used specifically for electronic/desktop publishing for better output.

Line Printer Daemon and Internet Printing Protocol are not languages.

Which cloud model replaces local applications?

SaaS

(Office 365, Google Drive)

Laptop has an upside down screen being displayed. Best fix?

Change display orientation.

LCD panel and display drivers are not the problem because you can see the display.

What converts finger touches into digital signals?

Digitizer.

Which DNS record handles SMTP traffic?

MX

Which DNS record stores human readable information about services, records, and authentications?

TXT

A year reports laptop trackpad is unresponsive after being in sleep mode, but the device works with a USB mouse. What do you check?

Ensure the trackpad isn’t disabled in Windows settings or with function keys.

Which network uses 2.4 GHz at 54 Mbps?

802.11g

What are SMART errors?

A built-in hardware warning from your computer's hard drive or SSD indicating imminent failure.

They are an early warning system.

RAID 5 reports SMART errors. What is the first step?

Back up the RAID array before taking action.

Don’t replace without backing up- that is risky. there’s no utility fix- SMART errors indicate hardware problem, or software problem.

Smartphone gets 8761 kbps on cellular. Laptop connected to phone’s hotspot only gets 243 kbps. What is the cause?

Wireless hotspot is throttling cellular connection speed.

If the hotspot SSID wasn’t being broadcast, or the laptop was out of range, the laptop would have no connectivity at all.

Laptop is connected to iPhone using USB cable to access the internet using the phone’s cellular data.

What kind of configuration is this?

Tethering.

Hotspot is wireless to cellular, tethering is wired to cellular.

What symptom suggests you need a total motherboard replacement- burning smell, swollen capacitor, continuous reboot, and incorrect time/date?

Distended (swollen) capacitors.

Bad smell implies LI-Ion battery is overheating, and wrong time/date indicates CMOS battery failure- these require a battery replacement, not a total motherboard replacement.

Printer is using regular printer paper and cardstock. The cardstock output has smears but the regular doesn't. Best fix?

Increase fuser temperature.

Thick paper needs more heat.

An internal fan whines but has no dust. Best fix?

Apply a small amount of oil to the fan’s bearings.

Since there is no dust, compressed air or damp cloth won’t do anything.

A wired printer suddenly stopped printing after working fine earlier in the day. First step?

Look for obvious signs of failure.

Don’t reboot workstation print drivers or printer connection before eliminating obvious reasons.

Best motherboard for home theater system that needs a very small form factor?

Mini-ITX.

Workstation is not booting and shows “OS not found”. Best solution?

Repair the MBR (Master Boot Record).

“OS not found” means the BIOS can’t find a bootable drive. It almost always has to do with MBR, boot sector, or boot loader.

What is chkdsk?

A built-in Windows utility that scans your hard drive or solid-state drive to verify file system integrity and repair logical errors.

It is commonly used to fix corrupted files, recover readable data, and identify physically damaged storage areas.

It does NOT fix BIOS problems.

Failing laptop battery symptoms?

Visual- Swelling casing (keyboard or trackpad).

Scent- Bad smell.

Operational- Rapid discharge, device failing to hold a charge, severe overheating.

Swollen capacitors symptoms?

Visual- Leaking residue.

Scent- Bad smell.

Operational- Random shutdowns and reboots, POST errors, flickering screens, freezing.

What are the two most important PSU considerations for a system with high processing demand?

Number and types of connectors

Wattage rating

What is bandwidth saturation?

A phenomenon that occurs when all of the available bandwidth in a given direction is being utilized by a large upload or download.

Can result in high latency and performance issues.

A building’s WAP is sporadically dropping connections to devices on the network. What needs to be checked first?

WAP Placement.

The location of the WAP should be assessed with a wireless site survey to determine if the construction of the building is obstructing the signal.

A smartphone is acting weird- flickering screen, inconsistent charging. What is the first question you should ask the user?

Ask if they have gotten it wet recently.

An intact but flickering screen and inconsistent charging are basic symptoms of liquid damage.

What uses temporary storage on a hard drive/SSD when RAM is full?

Virtual memory.

Best protection for a company to use for lost employee phones?

Full storage encryption.

Laser printer imaging order?

Processing

Charging

Exposing

Developing

Transferring

Fusing

Cleaning

Laser printer imaging order acronym?

Please

Come

Every

Day

To

Fish

Clean

Dual boot (two OS on the same computer, BIOS asks you which one you’d like to use) causes “OS not found”. What is the likely cause?

Wrong partition of storage marked as active.

WiFi is slow, but only at home. Best fix?

Increase the WAP signal.

You can ping 8.8.8.8 but not google.com. What is the cause of the problem?

DNS

Replacing a computer screen without a manual. How do you handle it?

Replace the screen anyways, but carefully.

Document screw and connector locations.

What is the most important precaution to have when installing an SSD?

Electrostatic discharge.

Wear an anti-static wrist wrap.

You can connect to the internet but you can only browse websites by IP address, not name. What is the cause?

DNS failure.

What does using a container for a legacy application do?

It runs the application in a virtual environment.

What allows 802.11ac to exceed 54 Mbps?

MIMO

Multiple antennas, higher throughput.