Could You Pass This Hardest CompTIA A+ Essentials Test?

CMOS is a memory chip that is designed to draw very little current. This memory is used to contain system configuration settings, BIOS passwords and time and date. BIOS is the Basic Input/Output System that could be referred to as the motherboards firmware. BIOS is contained on a chip that usually is soldered to the motherboard and should not be replaced. Flashing a BIOS is the term used when upgrading the program (or firmware) on the BIOS chip.

An LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) takes up the least space on a desk compared to the other display types listed. LCD screens are thin and lightweight, making them ideal for saving space. In contrast, CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitors are bulky and heavy, requiring more desk space. LED (Light Emitting Diode) displays are also thin, but LCDs are generally thinner and more compact. A terminal is a device used to access a computer remotely, so it does not require any physical space on a desk.

Power supplies are rated in Watts. Watt is the SI derived unit of power, equal to 1 volt * 1 ampere.

When connecting the power cable of an AT power supply to the motherboard, the black wires on the power connectors (P8/P9) should be together. This is because the black wires are the ground wires, and connecting them ensures a proper electrical connection and grounding between the power supply and the motherboard.

The IEEE 1394 standard also known as FireWire supports data transfer speeds of Mbps, although IEEE 1894b has a data transfer speed of 800 Mbps.
A: The maximum data transfer rate speed of USB 1.1 is 12 Mbps.
B: The maximum data transfer rate speed of USB 2.0 is 480 Mbps.
D: The maximum data transfer rate of Ultra SCSI 2 is 80 Mbps.

The purple mini-DIN 6 pins are used for the PS/2 keyboard.
Incorrect Answers:
A: The parallel port connector is usually colour-coded pink but it takes a DB-25 connector, not a mini-DIN 6 connector.
B: The monitor connector is usually colour-coded blue but it takes a high-density DB-15 connector, not a mini-DIN 6 connector.
C: The green mini-DIN 6 pins is used for the PS/2 mouse.

Some adapter cards like the Adaptec AHA-1542s still need to have terminators installed. If you set up both internal and external devices and none of them works, try enabling termination on it to see if that fixes the problem.
Incorrect Answers:
A: Disconnecting all the devices and starting over will not solve the problem as you need to enable termination on the adapter.
B: You do not have to remove and replace the adapter; you need to enable termination on it to make it function properly.
C: Changing the SCSI IDs will not solve the problem when all that is necessary is to enable termination on the adapter to enable proper functioning on the SCSI devices.

To disable Hyper-threading:
Press F9 at POST to enter ROM-Based Setup Utility (RBSU)
From the Main Menu, select Advanced Otions
From the Advanced Options menu, select Hyper-Threading
Select Disabled.

Socket 478 is a type of CPU socket used for Intel's Pentium 4 and Celeron series CPUs.
Incorrect Answers:
A: Socket 423 is a CPU socket that was used for the first Pentium 4 processors based on the Williamette core. However, it was short-lived as it quickly became apparent that it had inadequate electrical design, which would have not allowed many clock-speed rises above 2.0 GHz. It was replaced by the Socket 478.
B, E: Socket A (also known as Socket 462) is the CPU socket used for AMD processors ranging from the Athlon K7 to the Athlon XP 3200+, and AMD budget processors including the Duron and Sempron.
D: Socket 754 is a CPU socket originally developed by AMD to succeed its powerful Athlon XP platform (Socket 462, also referred to as Socket A)

The head actuator is the device that physically positions the read/write heads over the correct track on the surface of the disk. It is called the same for CD-ROMs, hard drives and floppy disk.

The South Bridge is generally used for slower devices such as USB ports, IDE drives, and ISA slots.
Incorrect Answers:
A: The PCI bus is a sort of bridge between the processor and ISA BUS.
B: The North Bridge is generally used for high-speed interface cards, such as video accelerators, Synchronous RAM (SRAM), and memory.
C: The ISA bus does not house the IDE connectors.

The DB-25 connector is most commonly used on parallel port.
Incorrect Answers:
A: A parellel cable makes use of a Centronics 36 connector.
B: A SCSI connector makes use of a Centronics 50 connector.
D: An EGA/CGA video port makes use of a DB-9 connector.
E: A VGA/SVGA video adapter makes use of a DB-15 connector.

RIMMs are a 16 bit wide and must installed in pairs.
Incorrect Answers:
A: 72-pin SIMMs are 32 bits wide and can be installed singularly.
B, C: DIMMs are 64 bit wide and can be installed singularly.

The AGPx8 has a clock speed of 533 MHz and has a transfer rate of about 2.1GB/s.
Incorrect Answers:
A: The original specifications for the AGP (AGPx1) has a clock speed of 66 MHz.
B: AGPx2 has a clock speed of 133 MHz.
C: AGPx4 has a clock speed of 266 MHz.

DIMMs are available in 168 and 184 pin versions.
Incorrect Answers:
A: Single Inline Memory Modules (SIMMs) come in 30 and 72 pin versions.
B: Single Inline Memory Modules (SIMMs) and Small Outline DIMMs (SODIMMs) come in 72 pin versions.
C: Small Outline DIMMs (SODIMMs) come in 72, 144, and 200 pin versions.

Every other device can be set to any number as long as it's not in use. It is a recommended practice in IT community to set the SCSI ID number for CD-ROM drives to 3.
Incorrect Answers:
A: Setting the bootable (or first) hard disk to ID 0 is the accepted IT community recommendation.
B: ID 3 would be the better choice to assign to the CD-ROM drive.
C: ID 2 is usually set aside for the Floppy drive.

Wide SCSI buses support 16 devices, rather than the 8 devices specified in regular SCSI.
Incorrect Answers:
B: Fast SCSI supports a maximum of eight devices.
C: Ultra SCSI is capable of supporting a maximum of eight devices.
E: Ultra 2 SCSI can only support 8 devices.

The PC100 SDRAM modules required 8 ns DRAM chips and was capable of operating at 125 MHz, the SDRAM modules prior to the PC100 standard used either 83 MHz chips (12 ns) or 100 MHz chips at 10 ns.
Incorrect Answers:
A: The PC66 chip ran at a clock speed of 66 MHz.
C: The PC133 chip ran at a clock speed of 133 MHz.
D: The PC800 chip ran at a clock speed of 800 MHz.

Synchronous Graphics RAM (SGRAM) makes use of very fast memory transfers and incorporates specific design changes for certain acceleration features into video cards.
Incorrect Answers:
A, B, C: EDO, VRAM and Standard (FPM) DRAM modules were created and are not a specialization of DDR SDRAM or SGRAM.

The 184-pin RIMM is 16-bits wide.
Incorrect Answers:
A: A 30-pin SIMM is 8-bits wide and is commonly found on a 386 and early 486 PC.
C: The 72-pin SIMM and the 72-pin SODIMM is 32-bits wide and can be installed singularly in 32-bit systems.
D: The 168- and 184-pin DIMM and the 144- and 200-pin SODIMM is 64-bits wide.

On the AT motherboards the processor, memory, and expansion slots are all in line with each other. Because the processor and memory were in line with the expansion slots, only one or two full-length cards could be used. Also, the processor was far from the power supply's cooling fan and would therefore tend to overheat unless a head sink or processor fan was directly attached to it. To overcome the limitations of the "baby" AT design, the ATX motherboard was designed. The ATX has the processor and memory slots at the right angles to the expansion cards. This puts the processor and memory in line with the fan output of the power supply, allowing the processor to run cooler. And, because those components are not in line with the expansion cards, you can install full-length expansion cards in the ATX motherboard machine.

Both the DB-25 and DB-9 MALE connectors are used for serial ports.
Incorrect Answers:
A: A Female DB-9 connector is used for a EVGA/CGA video ports.
C: A Female DB-15 connector is used for VGA/SVGA video adapters.
E: A Female DB-25 connector is used for parallel ports.

A 6-pin MINI-DIN connector plug is more commonly known as a PS/2 connector. PS/2 mouse interface is a type of mouse interface that uses a round, DIN-6 connector that gets its name from the first computer it was introduced on, the IBM PS/2.
All computers came with at least one serial port that the mouse could use with its female DB-9 connector. If the serial port was of the 25-pin variety, the user could plug the mouse's DB-9 connector into the adapter that was usually included with the mouse to allow it to work.
A: DIN-9 connector plug is used to connect to a bus mouse port.
Incorrect answers:
B: A DIN-5 connector plug is used for older keyboards.