What is checked during POST?

Professor Messer | Jul 06, 2009 | Comments 4


The Power On Self Test process performs a series of hardware diagnostics before the operating system loads. Which of these problems would NOT be found during POST?

A) A missing CPU heat sink

B) A faulty video card

C) A bad RAM module

D) A bad hard drive


On First Page1. The Question2. The Answer

Filed Under: CompTIA A+ Pop Quizzes

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  • Michele Lee

    Actually, I would have answered it as A a few months ago, but my POST actually let me know that my cooler/fan that I did have on my computer was not cooling down my CPU enough. It wasn’t until I got a better cooler/fan when the error message went away. I could get in still by press the F1 key, but was warned about that issue.

  • Kevin

    This one is pretty obvious to me. O_o

    How on Earth will a circuit, no matter how sophisticated, be able to detect something that isn’t electronic, such as a heat sink, especially when considering that they don’t directly connect?

    You can say that a lack of a heat sink or fan, due to the absence of a fan, can be inferred by the user AFTER the POST has ended abruptly due to CPU shutting down, but not “during” (as specifically mentioned in the question) POST.

    In that sense, the question could be deemed a bit tricky. I guess one should avoid “thinking too hard”. These test questions were probably meant to be straightforward rather than tricky.

    • http://www.ProfessorMesser.com Professor Messer

      Kevin -

      This question was designed to relatively straightforward if you’re familiar with the POST process and the diagnostics that it performs. If you know about POST, you probably knew the answer right away.

      The previous comment related a POST error to a malfunctioning fan, which is certainly within the capabilities of the POST diagnostics.

      I always avoid “trick” questions, as the CompTIA A+ exam is very clear about its questions and possible answers.

  • Brian

    “Actually, I would have answered it as A a few months ago, but my POST actually let me know that my cooler/fan that I did have on my computer was not cooling down my CPU enough”

    That’s not the same as a missing heat sink.

    the Professor is, of course, correct: If you know what POST performs, the “heat sink” jumps right out.