A technician has built a new computer. On the initial startup, the computer passes POST but will not turn on the operating system. Which of the following components has failed?

The correct answer is D. HDD. Since POST verifies that critical hardware (CPU, memory, motherboard, etc.) is functioning, a successful POST followed by failure to load the operating system points to the storage device - i.e., the hard drive - not providing a boot volume.

Submitted by paula_co· Mar 30, 2026Hardware and Network Troubleshooting

Question

Options

AAudio card
BCPU
CPower supply
DHDD

How the community answered

(62 responses)

A
3% (2)
B
5% (3)
C
10% (6)
D
82% (51)

Explanation

Since POST verifies that critical hardware (CPU, memory, motherboard, etc.) is functioning, a successful POST followed by failure to load the operating system points to the storage device - i.e., the hard drive - not providing a boot volume.

Topics

#Boot process#POST#Storage troubleshooting#HDD failure

Community Discussion

No community discussion yet for this question.

Full 220-1201 Practice