IT Support and Troubleshooting Flashcards

A user reports their computer randomly restarts without warning. Which tool should you use first to investigate the cause?

Answer: Event Viewer

Event Viewer logs system errors and warnings, including the stop codes or application faults that trigger unexpected restarts.

A technician suspects a failing hard drive. Which command-line tool can check disk integrity on Windows?

Answer: chkdsk /f /r

chkdsk /f /r scans the disk for bad sectors and attempts to recover readable data.

A user cannot print to a network printer. The printer shows online status in the queue. What is the BEST next step?

Answer: Clear the print spooler and restart it

A stuck print spooler is a common cause of print jobs queuing but not printing; restarting the spooler service clears corrupted jobs.

A laptop display shows vertical colored lines after a drop. What is the MOST likely cause?

Answer: Damaged LCD panel or GPU

Physical damage from dropping typically causes LCD panel damage or GPU solder joint failure, producing persistent vertical lines.

Which Windows utility allows you to roll back the system to a previous working state without affecting personal files?

Answer: System Restore

System Restore reverts system files and registry settings to a restore point while preserving user documents.

A technician is troubleshooting a PC that powers on but shows no display. After reseating the RAM, the issue persists. What is the NEXT step?

Answer: Test with a known-good monitor and cable

Verifying the monitor and cable eliminates the display output path as the cause before assuming internal component failure.

A user's web browser works but they cannot send or receive email. Which port should you verify is not blocked by the firewall?

Answer: Port 25 or 587

SMTP uses port 25 (server-to-server) and port 587 (client submission); blocking these prevents email sending and receiving.