Chapter8.Preventingproblems
AnimportantpartofowningaThinkPadnotebookcomputerismaintenance.Withpropercare,youcan
avoidcommonproblems.Thechapterprovidesinformationthatcanhelpyoukeepyourcomputerrunning
smoothly.
•“Generaltipsforpreventingproblems”onpage115
•“Makingsuredevicedriversarecurrent”onpage116
•“Takingcareofyourcomputer”onpage117

Generaltipsforpreventingproblems

1.IfyourcomputerisequippedwithbothaharddiskdriveandanmSATAsolid-statedrive,youarenot
recommendedtousethemSATAsolid-statedriveasabootabledevice.ThemSAT Asolid-statedriveis
designedanddevelopedforthe“cache”functionpurposeonly.IfyouusethemSAT Asolid-statedrive
asabootabledevice,itsreliabilityisnotguaranteed.
2.Checkthecapacityofyourharddiskdrivefromtimetotime.Iftheharddiskdrivegetstoofull,the
Windowsoperatingsystemwillslowdownandmightproduceerrors.
Tochecktheharddiskdrivecapacity,clickStart➙ComputerontheWindows7operatingsystem.For
theWindows8operatingsystem,openWindowsExplorerandclickComputer.
3.Emptyyourrecyclebinonaregularbasis.
4.Usediskdefragmenttoolregularlyonyourharddiskdrivetoimprovedataseekandreadtimes.
5.Tofreeupdiskspace,uninstallunusedprograms.
Note:Youalsomightwanttolookforprogramduplicationoroverlappingversions.
6.CleanoutyourInbox,Sent,andT rashfoldersfromyoure-mailclientprogram.
7.Backupyourdataatleastonceaweek.Ifcriticaldataispresent,itisagoodideatoperformadaily
backupoperation.Lenovohasmanybackupoptionsavailableforyourcomputer.Rewritableoptical
drivesareavailableformostmachinesandareeasilyinstalled.
8.Schedulesystemrestoreoperationstotakeasystemsnapshotperiodically.Formoreinformationabout
systemrestore,seeChapter5“Recoveryoverview”onpage59.
9.UpdatedevicedriversandUEFIBIOSwhenneeded.
10.Proleyourmachineathttp://www.lenovo.com/supporttokeepuptodatewithcurrentdriversand
revisions.
11.Ensuredevicedriversfornon-Lenovoperipheraldevicesarekeptuptodate.Y oumightwanttoreadthe
devicedriverinformationreleasenotespriortoupdatingforcompatibilityorknownissues.
12.Keepalogbook.Entriesmightincludemajorhardwareorsoftwarechanges,driverupdates,minor
issuesyouhaveexperienced,andhowyouresolvedtheminorissues.
13.Ifyoueverneedtorunarecoveryonyourcomputertoreturnthepreloadontothemachine,the
followingtipsmighthelpalongtheway:
•Removeallexternaldevicessuchastheprinter,keyboard,andsoon.
•Makesurethatyourbatteryischargedandthatyouhavetheacpowerconnected.
•BootintoThinkPadSetupandloadthedefaultsettings.
•Restartthecomputerandstarttherecoveryoperation.
•Ifyourcomputerusesdiscsastherecoverymedia,donotremovethediscfromthedriveuntil
promptedtodoso.
14.F orsuspectedharddiskdriveissues,referto“Diagnosingproblems”onpage121toruna
diagnostictestofthedrivebeforeyoucalltheCustomerSupportCenter.Ifyourcomputerdoes
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