Refer to the exhibit. When a laptop is connected to a device via a serial connection, which action makes the output readable?

Question

Exhibit

Options

• AChange the baudrate in the connection settings.
• BReboot the device in case a firmware error is the issue.
• CChange the power level of the device.
• DChange the unicode settings to UTF-8.

• A
  83% (15)
• C
  11% (2)
• D
  6% (1)

Explanation

When a serial connection produces garbled or unreadable output, the baud rate (bits per second) on the laptop must match the baud rate configured on the connected device - a mismatch causes the characters to be misinterpreted, resulting in gibberish. Option A is correct because adjusting the baud rate in the terminal/connection settings (e.g., PuTTY or a console app) to match the device's expected rate (commonly 9600, 115200, etc.) synchronizes the communication and makes output readable.

• B is wrong because rebooting the device doesn't fix a configuration mismatch between the two endpoints; the same garbled output returns after reboot.
• C is wrong because power level is unrelated to serial data encoding or readability - it's a physical layer concern, not a communication settings concern.
• D is wrong because serial console connections use raw ASCII/byte streams, not Unicode encoding settings; UTF-8 is irrelevant to RS-232/serial baud synchronization.

Memory tip: Think of baud rate like two people talking - if one speaks at double speed, the other can't understand. Both sides must agree on the same speed (baud rate) to communicate.

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