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220-802 · Question #705

After installing an updated video card driver in a Windows XP machine, a technician sees a bluescreen of death (BSOD). Which of the following would BEST help the technician repair the computer?

The correct answer is C. Last Known Good Configuration. Last Known Good Configuration restores the registry settings and drivers from the most recent successful boot, quickly undoing the damage caused by the bad driver installation.

Hardware and network troubleshooting

Question

After installing an updated video card driver in a Windows XP machine, a technician sees a bluescreen of death (BSOD). Which of the following would BEST help the technician repair the computer?

Options

  • AUpdate antivirus definitions
  • BRun System Restore
  • CLast Known Good Configuration
  • DFactory pre-installation CD

How the community answered

(44 responses)
  • A
    2% (1)
  • B
    7% (3)
  • C
    89% (39)
  • D
    2% (1)

Why each option

Last Known Good Configuration restores the registry settings and drivers from the most recent successful boot, quickly undoing the damage caused by the bad driver installation.

AUpdate antivirus definitions

Updating antivirus definitions addresses malware threats and has no effect on a BSOD caused by a faulty hardware driver.

BRun System Restore

System Restore would also fix the issue but requires Windows to boot far enough to access the recovery tool, making it slower than selecting Last Known Good Configuration at the boot menu.

CLast Known Good ConfigurationCorrect

Last Known Good Configuration boots Windows using the driver and registry data saved at the last successful user logon, which predates the problematic driver update. This is faster than System Restore and directly targets the registry hive affected by the driver change without requiring Windows to fully load.

DFactory pre-installation CD

Using a factory pre-installation CD would wipe the system and reinstall the OS from scratch, which is a destructive last resort not appropriate for a driver-related BSOD.

Concept tested: Last Known Good Configuration for driver-caused BSOD

Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/devtest/understanding-the-metadata-cache

Topics

#BSOD#Last Known Good Configuration#driver rollback#Windows XP recovery

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