220-1101 Question 245
Single answerSATAA technician installs a new 2.5-inch SATA SSD in a desktop to replace an aging hard drive. After connecting the SSD, the system powers on, but the drive does not appear in the UEFI/BIOS or the operating system installer. The technician confirms the motherboard SATA port is enabled and working by testing it with another known-good drive. Which of the following should the technician do NEXT to most efficiently isolate the problem?
- A
Move the SSD to a different PCIe slot to ensure the storage bus is initialized correctly
- B
Replace the SATA data cable and verify the SSD has a separate SATA power connection from the power supply
- C
Configure the motherboard to use PATA compatibility mode for 2.5-inch drives
- D
Set the SSD jumper to Cable Select so the motherboard can detect it properly
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
This question tests practical SATA troubleshooting. A SATA storage device must have both a functioning SATA data connection to the motherboard and a SATA power connection from the power supply. Because the technician already verified that the motherboard SATA port works with another known-good drive, the next best step is to isolate the remaining common failure points: the cable and power connection. This aligns with standard CompTIA-style troubleshooting methodology: verify known-good components, isolate variables, and test the simplest likely causes before replacing hardware. In real systems, UEFI/BIOS detection failure commonly results from an unseated or faulty SATA data cable, missing SATA power, or a failed drive. Best practices from motherboard and SSD vendor documentation also emphasize confirming secure SATA data and power connections before changing firmware settings or replacing the drive.
- A. Incorrect.
Incorrect. SATA drives do not connect through PCIe slots in a standard SATA installation. While some storage devices use PCIe or M.2 interfaces, a 2.5-inch SATA SSD relies on a SATA data connection to the motherboard and SATA power from the power supply. This option reflects confusion between SATA and PCIe/NVMe storage technologies.
- B. Correct.
Correct. If the motherboard port has already been verified with a known-good drive, the most efficient next step is to check the remaining likely failure points in the SATA path: the SATA data cable and the SATA power connection. A SATA drive requires both a working data cable and power from the PSU to be detected. Replacing the cable and confirming power is standard troubleshooting practice and directly isolates whether the issue is cabling or the SSD itself.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. PATA compatibility mode is not a normal configuration for modern SATA SSD detection in this scenario. SATA controllers may offer modes such as AHCI or RAID, but PATA is an older interface standard and is not selected based on the physical size of the drive. The 2.5-inch form factor does not change the interface requirements.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Cable Select jumpers are associated with older PATA/IDE devices, not standard SATA SSD configuration. Most SATA drives do not use master/slave or Cable Select settings for motherboard detection. Choosing this option would indicate confusion between legacy PATA conventions and SATA operation.