FirstTry

Objective 5.5

220-1201

Given a scenario, troubleshoot network issues.

Objective 5.5 sits in Hardware and Network Troubleshooting, which carries 28% of the A+ Core 1 exam. The questions below are original, written from the official objective title above, and each explanation cites the CompTIA page it rests on.

Objective title verbatim from the official objectives. CompTIA exam page ↗

A worked example

Shown solved, with the whole explanation open: this is what every question here carries.

5-5Hardware and Network Troubleshooting

A technician captures a completed TCP session and observes the FIN flag set to 1 in both directions, with no abrupt termination. What does this indicate?

A TCP reset, which abruptly terminates the session and clears connection stateA reset is marked by the RESET flag, not FIN, and ends the session abruptly.
A three-way handshake, which establishes the session before data is exchangedThe handshake opens a session using SYN flags and occurs before any closure.
A TIME_WAIT state, which delays the release of the connection for four minutesTIME_WAIT is the four-minute wait period that follows a graceful closure, not the closure itself.
A graceful closure, where both sides have agreed to end the session normallyCorrect · your answerCorrect: this is the defined behavior of a graceful, mutually agreed closure.

Correct.

Checked against learn.microsoft.com, July 2026

Concept

TCP sessions close through a four-way exchange where both endpoints agree to end the connection, marked by the FIN flag.

Why D

Each direction of a connection is shut down separately, so seeing the close indication travel both ways says the two ends worked through the full sequence rather than one end tearing things down under the other. An abrupt end carries a different flag and leaves the far side no chance to finish sending.

Source

A four-way closure, where both the sender and receiver agree to close the session, is known as a graceful closure. This is identified by the FIN flag in the TCP header being set to 1.

Microsoft Learn: Troubleshoot TCP/IP connectivity, checked July 2026
#tcp#graceful-closure#network-troubleshooting

Now you: objective 5.5 questions

No account needed. The explanation opens when you answer.

Sample question 1 of 3

5-5Hardware and Network Troubleshooting

Users report intermittent RDP failures. A technician runs simultaneous packet captures at the source and destination. The source shows repeated SYN retransmissions, but the destination trace shows none of those packets arriving. What is the most likely cause?

Sample question 2 of 3

5-5Hardware and Network Troubleshooting

A file share connection was already established over port 445 when an SMB negotiate packet is retransmitted five times, after which the source sends an ACK-RST. Which phase of the connection does this describe?

Sample question 3 of 3

5-5Hardware and Network Troubleshooting

During TCP troubleshooting, a technician needs to confirm whether a remote application on the destination machine is in a listening state on port 445. Which command should the technician run?

That’s 3 of the full A+ Core 1 bank.

Keep going free: 10 questions per certification in bank practice, with no account.

Continue practicing

Read the sources

These are the official pages the questions above cite. Reading them is studying the objective from the primary source, which is what the explanations point you toward anyway.

More objectives in Hardware and Network Troubleshooting