SAC System Maintenance and Troubleshooting 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A technician suspects a memory module is causing random system crashes. Which Windows tool can run a comprehensive RAM test?
- Disk Cleanup
- Windows Memory Diagnostic (Correct answer)
- Device Manager
- System File Checker
Correct answer: Windows Memory Diagnostic
Windows Memory Diagnostic (mdsched.exe) tests RAM for errors and can be scheduled to run on the next reboot.
Question 2: What is the primary purpose of a system baseline in IT administration?
- To document the minimum hardware requirements for software
- To establish normal performance metrics for comparison during troubleshooting (Correct answer)
- To set the default configuration of new deployments
- To track software license expiration dates
Correct answer: To establish normal performance metrics for comparison during troubleshooting
A system baseline captures normal performance metrics so administrators can identify deviations that indicate a problem.
Question 3: A Linux server cannot reach external hosts but can ping its own loopback address (127.0.0.1). What should you check next?
- The SSH daemon configuration
- The default gateway and network interface configuration (Correct answer)
- The /etc/passwd file for user account issues
- The cron job schedule
Correct answer: The default gateway and network interface configuration
If loopback works but external connectivity fails, the problem is likely in the default gateway or network interface configuration.
Question 4: Which SMART attribute value reaching 0 on a hard drive most directly warns of imminent failure?
- Power-On Hours
- Reallocated Sectors Count
- Spin Retry Count
- Reallocated Sectors Count and Reallocated Event Count (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Reallocated Sectors Count and Reallocated Event Count
Reallocated Sectors Count and Reallocated Event Count both increasing (or their 'worst' values hitting 0) are the strongest SMART indicators of imminent drive failure.
Question 5: After applying a patch, a critical application fails to start. What is the fastest recovery action assuming a recent snapshot exists?
- Reinstall the operating system from scratch
- Roll back to the pre-patch snapshot (Correct answer)
- Manually uninstall the patch and restart
- Contact the vendor and wait for a hotfix
Correct answer: Roll back to the pre-patch snapshot
Rolling back to a pre-patch snapshot is the fastest recovery method when a snapshot was taken before the change.
Question 6: A Windows Event Log shows Event ID 7034 repeatedly. What does this event typically indicate?
- A user account was locked out
- A service terminated unexpectedly (Correct answer)
- A disk volume was mounted
- A Windows Update was installed successfully
Correct answer: A service terminated unexpectedly
Event ID 7034 in the System log indicates that a service terminated unexpectedly, which can signal application crashes or misconfigurations.
Question 7: Which command is used to display current network connections and listening ports on a Linux system?
- ifconfig -a
- ping -c 4 localhost
- ss -tulnp (Correct answer)
- route -n
Correct answer: ss -tulnp
The 'ss -tulnp' command displays TCP/UDP sockets, listening ports, and the associated processes on Linux.
SAC System Maintenance and Troubleshooting 3
A technician suspects a memory module is causing random system crashes.
Which Windows tool can run a comprehensive RAM test?