Pass Using 220-1201 Exam Dumps

An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) protects systems against power outages by providing temporary backup power, giving users time to save data and safely shut down.

From CompTIA A+ 220-1101 Official Study Guide, Objective 3.3 – Power protection:

“A UPS supplies backup power to prevent data loss and hardware damage during outages or surges, ensuring system integrity.”

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CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1101) Official Study Guide, Chapter 3: Power Protection

CompTIA Exam Objectives 220-1101, Domain 3.3

A shutdown during POST combined with a burning smell strongly indicates an overheating condition occurring almost immediately after power-on. In a newly built workstation, the most common cause of rapid CPU overheating is improper heatsink installation, especially failing to apply thermal paste (thermal compound) between the CPU and the heatsink. Thermal paste fills microscopic imperfections between the two metal surfaces so heat can transfer efficiently into the heatsink. Without it, the CPU can spike to unsafe temperatures within seconds. Modern systems detect this and trigger protective thermal shutdown during POST to prevent permanent CPU or motherboard damage. The burning smell can occur when components near the CPU socket heat excessively or when protective coatings/dust residues warm quickly due to poor heat dissipation.

The wrong type of RAM (B) would more likely cause no-boot/beep codes rather than a burning smell. Not properly grounding (A) relates to ESD damage risk, but that typically causes intermittent or dead hardware symptoms, not immediate thermal shutdown. A disconnected case exhaust fan (C) can contribute to higher case temperatures, but it’s less likely to cause an immediate POST shutdown compared to missing thermal paste on the CPU cooler.

The workstation ' s IP configuration (192.168.1.27/24 with gateway 192.168.1.1) shows that it has a correct IP address, correct subnet mask, and expected default gateway for a typical small office network. Because the IP is in the correct private range and not an APIPA address (169.254.x.x), this also confirms that DHCP is functioning properly. Therefore, option D (DHCP) cannot be the cause.

The user then pings the default gateway at 192.168.1.1, which should be the router—the device providing routing between local devices and outside networks. The repeated " Request timed out " responses indicate the workstation cannot reach the router at all. This type of failure points directly to a router outage, a powered-off router, a failed router interface, or a physical disconnection of the router from the switch.

If DNS (C) were the issue, the user would still be able to ping the IP address of the gateway because DNS is not required for IP-to-IP connectivity. A web server (A) has no relation to local gateway communication and does not affect workstation access.

Since the workstation has a valid IP but cannot reach its default gateway, the failure point is the router.

Error-Correcting Code (ECC) memory is designed to detect and correct single-bit memory errors, increasing system reliability and data integrity. According to CompTIA Core 1 (220-1201) hardware and memory objectives, ECC memory is most commonly used in servers and enterprise-grade systems where uptime and data accuracy are critical.

A file server is responsible for storing, managing, and serving data to many users simultaneously. Memory errors in such systems could lead to data corruption, crashes, or security issues. For this reason, servers frequently use ECC memory in combination with server-class CPUs and motherboards that support error correction.

High-end gaming consoles prioritize performance and cost efficiency rather than fault tolerance, and they do not use ECC memory. Smartphones rely on low-power mobile RAM without error correction, and laptops typically use non-ECC memory unless they are specialized workstation-class systems, which is not indicated in this question.

CompTIA emphasizes that ECC memory is associated with mission-critical environments, particularly servers and enterprise systems, making a file server the most appropriate answer.