A computer crash has occurred when a computer's central

Question

A computer crash has occurred when a computer's central processing unit 'freezes up' and cannot respond to further commands or perform additional functions. In the split second during a computer crash, however, certain functions are still possible. When cindy's micron 401 computer crashed, she suspected it was due to an electrical power surge to the computer. The micron 401 computer usually does not work fast enough during a crash to produce an error message on the screen before the computer 'freezes'. However an error message can be triggered by an electrical power surge to the computer. Whenever a micron 401 computer crashes without producing an error message on the screen, the computer's hard drive is damaged. Upon restarting her computer, cindy determined its hard drive was not damaged.

Confusing subject matter but my vote goes with C because it seems to paraphrase the argument and to not be as strongly worded as the other choices.

Which one of the following must be true on basis of the information above ?

(A) If the micron 401's processor worked faster during the crash, the computer 's hard drive would have been damaged.

(B) The micron 401's hard drive is specially suited to withstand computer crashes.

(c) If the the micron 401's crash was not due to an electrical power surge, the computer's processor worked unusually fast during the crash.

(D) The micron 401 computer is built to withstand electrical power surges.

(E) If an error message appeared on the screen of the micron 401, it did so only after computer crashed.

akbism · Answer

Wow, I am the first one to fight the battle against this question.

Lvnguyen87 · Answer

A computer crash has occurred when a computer's central processing unit 'freezes up' and cannot respond to further commands or perform additional functions. In the split second during a computer crash, however, certain functions are still possible. When cindy's micron 401 computer crashed, she suspected it was due to an electrical power surge to the computer. The micron 401 computer usually does not work fast enough during a crash to produce an error message on the screen before the computer 'freezes'. However an error message can be triggered by an electrical power surge to the computer. Whenever a micron 401 computer crashes without producing an error message on the screen, the computer's hard drive is damaged. Upon restarting her computer, cindy determined its hard drive was not damaged.

Confusing subject matter but my vote goes with C because it seems to paraphrase the argument and to not be as strongly worded as the other choices.

Confusing subject matter but my vote goes with C because it seems to paraphrase the argument and to not be as strongly worded as the other choices.

saketkhard · Answer

I must agree that this one is a tough question.. What is the source of this question (Please don't give me LSAT name for this)

I am confused between option C and option D. Option B can be simply ruled out because we cannot infer that "hard drive is specially suited"

Option A -- talks just the opposite.. It is given in the question that if the processor workes faster an error message is produced.

option E can also be ruled out because the scenario described is not possible - it is given that the error message is produced during the crash and not after the crash.

I will choose option D. Reason --

Events given are:- Hard Drive not damaged --> possible reason (Error message was displayed) -- > But the processor of micron 401 PC is not ususally fast, so this can be ruled out that the processor worked unusually fast during the crash.. --> the only possibility that seems possible is that there was an ELECTRONIC SURGE (it is given that error message can be produced via Electronic surge) ---> this means that micron 401 is build to withstand ELECTRONIC SURGE because even after the crash, the Hard Drive was safe..

Please let me know what is the official answer. I will not be surprised if I am wrong because this question is way too tricky.

ArchanaAtul · Answer

I would also go with D

OA?

Regards,
Archana

jagdeepsingh1983 · Answer

I also go with D.. took three mins to understand

Electrical --> Computer give warning--> it is protected against power surge

Depaulian · Answer

y I said B is

Cindy suspected that its an electrical surge, which means that an error msg trigger by electrical surge was displayed before crashing.

and it is given  Whenever a micron 401 computer crashes without producing an error message on the screen, the computer's hard drive is damaged , but nting is said for sure abt the state of hard drive if the error msg is displayed.
 That can only be confirmed (or determined as cindy did)  by restarting the system after the crash.
so it tells that the harddrive is capable of withstanding the crash  option B

It cannot be option D, because it says  The micron 401 computer is built to withstand electrical power surges. .If 401 was buit to withstand electrical power surges , it wudn't have crashed in the first place.

bidmanager · Answer

will vote for C. Though D also looks correct!

Aj85 · Answer

Hii guys, thanks for attempting this question. Its really tough question as even acknowledged by the kaplan test prep. I got answer choice D as many of you did, but option D is wrong. Lvnguyen87 kudos to you for going the right way and avoiding deductions which are outside the scope of argument.

Here is the concise form of explanation from kaplan - :

(A) There's no stated connection between the speed of the processor and the hard drive, so we can eliminate A.

(B) and (D) - The intention behind the 401's construction is never addressed; its away outside the scope.

(E) is impossible. A crash is characterised by a 'freeze', so after a crash no additional function can be performed.

Correct answer Is C.

The main info provided by the argument is that hard drive was not damaged. If the hard drive is not damaged then there cannot be 'no error message', which means that there is an error message. we are told that usually , the processor doesn't work quickly enough to produce the error message, and that such a message could instead result from electrical power surge. But what if there was no surge ? since we have already deduced that error message must have appeared, we can deduce that in absence of electrical surge , the processor must have worked unusually fast during the crash. This is a particularly tough question because the formal logic statements combine to lead to a nice deduction, but that deduction is not the answer; it only leads to the answer.

@saketkhard - The source is Kaplan LSAT 180 and believe me it is highest level cr question.

The main thing to remember is in conclusion questions we have to deduce things from whatever we are given and not bring any extra info.

fluke · Answer

Good question. Beyond GMAT difficulty level, I hope.

Facts: 
Computer crashed.
Hard drive was not damaged.
Message was triggered.(This is an inference to hold the previous statement true)
********************************************************

Message could be triggered in at least two scenarios:
1. When computer crashed because of electrical power surge.
2. If computer didn't crash because of electrical power surge and the processor was unusually fast.

"C" takes 2 into consideration.
"computer  usually  does not work fast enough during a crash to produce an error message". Had the computer been slow during the crash as usual, the error message wouldn't have appeared and would have resulted in the hard-drive damage; however, the damage didn't happen because 401 was fast enough to generate the required message and the crash didn't damage the hard-drive.

Let's also rule out others:
(A) If the micron 401's processor worked faster during the crash, the computer's hard drive would have been damaged.
Opposite of what we just saw for C.

(B) The micron 401's hard drive is specially suited to withstand computer crashes.
"The micron 401 computer usually does not work fast enough during a crash to produce an error message".
" Whenever  a micron 401 computer  crashes without  producing an  error message  on the screen, the computer's  hard drive  is  damaged "
So much for B to be true.

(D) The micron 401  computer  is built to withstand electrical power surges.
Two things:
1. It says computer is built to withstand the surge. It should have said "hard-drive" is built to withstand the surges.
2. Even if we assume that "hard-drive is built to withstand electrical power surges", the assumption may not be true.
Look at this:
"However an error message can be triggered by an electrical power surge to the computer"
We know that when an error message is not generated, the hard-drive crashes. We can't infer the opposite from this i.e. 
"when an error message is generated, the hard-drive doesn't crash"
Also,
The word "can" is giving us a possibility that the message CAN be generated; it doesn't mean the message WILL be generated. When the message could not be generated after the surge, then also the hard-drive will be damaged, falsifying D.

(E) If an error message appeared on the screen of the micron 401, it did so only after computer crashed.
Some activity can happen during the crash, but everything freezes after the crash. No way this can happen. False.

Ans: "C"

Aj85 · Answer

Thx fluke for the very good reply to this question. I think sometimes size of question and amount of info to deal with makes a question very intimidating. For me instead of calmly reading the question one time I was rushing from first sentence to last and because of that ended up reading it many times, wasted time and still couldn't get the right understanding. And yes this may be beyond GMAT level question, I usually do well on LSAT questions but my accuracy rate for questions of this book 'Kaplan lsat 180' is not very good. I believe it has questions which are even above LSAT level.

GMATmission · Answer

IMO C. This question looks more like a LSAT question than a GMAT question. It uses deductive reasoning.

Depaulian · Answer

OMG...dere r questions even beyond LSAT lvl ??

ganjupatel · Answer

very tricky wording...i don't know why i marked E...should have read the question properly...

goalset · Answer

No error message means no electrical power surge.
No hard disk crash means CPU worked faster to avoid.
C is the only one that satisfies the above criteria!

GDT · Answer

Can someone pls explain how C is correct

AndrewN · Answer

Hello again,  GDT . This one took me almost three minutes to solve. I was  certain  the answer had to be (C) or (E), and I did choose the correct answer because I thought (C) was the harder of the two to argue  against . This is a test-taking skill that has taken me years as a tutor to hone, looking to disprove weaker answers rather than just go with the one I like the most. The following is my take on each answer choice:

Analysis: What do we know about the conditions that damage the hard drive? The penultimate line tells us:

Whenever a micron 401 computer crashes without producing an error message on the screen, the computer's hard drive is damaged.

Cindy presumably saw an error message, since she reasoned that the  hard drive was not damaged . Had the computer worked  faster  during the crash, that can only be seen as a  potential  plus: a faster-working machine might, in fact,  work fast enough during a crash to produce an error message , and the crisis would be averted, since only the absence of an error message indicates hard-drive damage. Truth is, we will never know what could be true on this one, but this answer choice works against the logic of the must-be-true question and the information presented in the passage.  Red light.

Analysis: The passage does not indicate anything about the specifications of the computer unit, making this answer choice complete speculation. Get rid of it and move on.  Red light.

Analysis: We have to parse this conditional statement to get at the heart of the truth and make an assessment. The  if  trigger removes the apparent cause of the crash,  an electrical power surge . What do we know about when a power surge  does  cause a crash? The middle of the passage tells us:

The micron 401 computer usually does not work fast enough during a crash to produce an error message on the screen before the computer 'freezes'. However an error message can be triggered by an electrical power surge to the computer.

Going backwards from sentence to sentence, we understand that a power surge can cause an error message to appear  on the screen before the computer 'freezes.'  If we remove the cause, what then? See if the rest of choice (C) provides a reasonable answer. No, seriously. Look back up at the latter half of the answer choice:

the computer's processor worked unusually fast during the crash .

That makes sense, since again, Cindy presumably saw an error message to conclude that her computer was fine. If a "normal" cause such as a power surge did  not  on its own prompt the error message, then we can conclude that the scenario, according to the first of the two lines from the passage quoted above, would not have been a "usual" case, and we can reinterpret that very line as saying that  the micron 401 computer  sometimes, although not usually,  works fast enough during a crash to produce an error message.  Taken altogether, this answer choice is hard to argue against.  Green light.

Analysis: This statement is just as verifiable as the one in (B), and we can eliminate it on similar grounds. To reiterate, the passage gives us no information on how the computer was built--i.e. to what specifications it was constructed.  Red light.

Analysis: This can seem reasonable. The computer crashed, and then an error message appeared, just before everything went hazy (or static). But the same line from the middle of the passage goes against this outcome as a  certainty :

The micron 401 computer usually does not work fast enough during a crash to produce an error message on the screen before the computer 'freezes'.

If the computer  usually  does not work fast enough...  before  the computer 'freezes,' then that leaves the door open to other, less usual circumstances.  Red light.

I hope that helps answer your question. It was a tough nut to crack, but a careful reading can guide you all the way.

- Andrew

Neurogenesis · Answer

Please find below my full explanation.

A computer crash has occurred when a computer's central processing unit 'freezes up' and cannot respond to further commands or perform additional functions. In the split second during a computer crash, however, certain functions are still possible. When cindy's micron 401 computer crashed, she suspected it was due to an electrical power surge to the computer. The micron 401 computer usually does not work fast enough during a crash to produce an error message on the screen before the computer 'freezes'. However an error message can be triggered by an electrical power surge to the computer. Whenever a micron 401 computer crashes without producing an error message on the screen, the computer's hard drive is damaged. Upon restarting her computer, cindy determined its hard drive was not damaged. 
 
 Which one of the following must be true on basis of the information above ?

Analysis

What we know from the prompt:
 
 If a micron 401 computer crashes without an error message (sufficient condition), the hard drive is damaged (necessary condition). 
 (Contrapositive) Its hard drive is not damaged =>it has crashed with an error message. 
 Therefore, we know an error message appeared during the crash. 
 Two possibilities (according to the prompt): Either the computer worked unusually fast during the crash to produce an error message before the freeze OR a power surge occurred such that an error message could be triggered.

With that in mind, let us check the options.

(A) If the micron 401's processor worked faster during the crash, the computer's hard drive would have been damaged.
 
 If the processor worked faster during the crash, an error message would have been produced before the freeze. The hard drive is damaged when crash occurs without an error message (but damage can happen anyway). Hence, it is possible but unlikely that the hard drive would have been damaged if the processor worked faster during the crash. OUT

(B) The micron 401's hard drive is specially suited to withstand computer crashes. 
 
Nothing in the prompt suggests that it is suited to withstand crashes. Since an error message has been produced before the freeze, the hard drive could avoid damage this time. Other crashes without error messages would have damaged the hard drive. OUT

(C) If the micron 401's crash was not due to an electrical power surge, the computer's processor worked unusually fast during the crash. 
 
If it crashes without an error message (sufficient condition), the hard drive is damaged (necessary condition). 
 (Contrapositive) Its hard drive is not damaged =>it has crashed with an error message. 
 Now, either the computer worked unusually fast during the crash to produce an error message before the freeze OR a power surge occurred such that an error message could be triggered. 
 
=> If the crash was not due to a power surge, then the processor worked unusually fast during the crash.  
 This must be true. CORRECT

(D) The micron 401 computer is built to withstand electrical power surges. 
 
Nothing in the prompt suggest that it is built to withstand power surges. We do not know whether a power surge happened, we just know that in such case an error message can be triggered. OUT

(E) If an error message appeared on the screen of the micron 401, it did so only after computer crashed. 
 
The computer freezes after a crash and cannot perform additional functions.  
 Thus, the time window to produce an error message is during the crash. If the computer does not work fast enough during the crash to produce an error message before the freeze, then it is too late for an error message to appear. The error message could appear during the crash in two cases: the computer worked unusually fast during the crash, or a power surge happened. OUT

I hope it helps

A computer crash has occurred when a computer's central

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