Exam 220-1101 topic 1 question 58 discussion

A is the answer here. That clicking sound is the hard drive failing, get your data off this machine ASAP

when a drive is failing you need to save your data ASAP

The ticking noise likely indicates a failing hard drive. The technician should attempt to extract data before the drive fails completely

Again, it would be nice if the question provided all of the relevant information to be able to answer the question properly. Here, we have to assume that the system is running and HDD instead of actually knowing...

The most likely cause of a clicking sound that is heard after power is applied to the motherboard when booting a workstation is D. HDD. This sound is an indication of hard drive failure. HDD stands for hard disk drive, which is a non-volatile storage device that stores data on rapidly rotating disks. Extract data = Backup data

not great question A. Try to extract data .

The strange repetitive ticking noise could be an indication of a problem with one of the fans inside the PC, such as the CPU fan or the system fan. This noise might be caused by a fan obstruction or failure, and fans are crucial for cooling the components. Overheating due to a fan failure can lead to performance degradation and instability. Fan issues can cause a computer to overheat, which can lead to boot failures and degraded performance.

clicking sound = hard drive is failing ao always backup first

Another classic comptia gotcha question. The normal thought process after the first few sentences about the ticking noise and the PC failing to boot would be that the HDD is failing, so you want to extract the data asap before it's gone. The annoying part is that they're asking what to do FIRST. Realistically, options like inspecting the fan can be checked/done quickly, so they could generally be first steps since you don't know what the problem is until you inspect something. Also, trying to extract data would generally take longer so it's generally not a first step. In this case, they gave enough information for you to assume the hard drive is failing without you having to really inspect anything. So yeah try to extract the data, and thanks comptia.

I would say that A (try to extract data) is the correct answer. This is the first troubleshooting step that should be performed after filing a ticket, as it can help prevent data loss in case of a hard drive failure, which is one of the most likely causes of the problem.

C - while extracting the data might be a step eventually that the technician would take, the first logical step would be to quickly check the fan. The amount of time it would take to realistically check this is minutes, while extracting the data could potentially be much longer. It is potentially a HDD breaking down but it doesn't specify if there is a HDD or SDD in this question. It feels a bit of a gotcha type question just stating it is coming from the PC. I feel like it could be argued either way but I am leaning towards the Fan, Chat GPT agreed.

C. Inspect the fan. The ticking noise is likely coming from a failing fan, which could cause performance issues and eventually lead to system failure if not addressed. Inspecting the fan should be the technician's first step in resolving the issue.

The technician should FIRST inspect the fan, as the strange ticking noise is likely a sign of a failing fan. If a fan within the PC, such as the power supply fan or the fan on a graphics card, is not functioning correctly, it can cause the system to overheat and eventually shut down or fail to boot. Checking the fan is a quick and easy step that can help diagnose the issue and prevent further damage to the system.

Try to extract data.

The answer is (B)