Lenovo 3444CUU Chapter9.Preventingproblems

Chapter9.Preventingproblems

AnimportantpartofowningaThinkPadnotebookismaintenance.Withpropercare,youcanavoid

commonproblems.Thefollowingsectionsprovideinformationthatcanhelpyoutokeepyourcomputer

runningsmoothly.

•Generaltipsforpreventingproblems

•Makingsuredevicedriversarecurrent

•Takingcareofyourcomputer

1.Checkthecapacityofyourharddiskdrivefromtimetotime.Iftheharddiskdrivegetstoofull,Windows

willslowdownandmightproduceerrors.

Tocheckthecapacityofyourharddiskdrive,clickStart➙Comput er.

2.Emptyyourrecyclebinonaregularbasis.

3.Usediskdefragmenttoolregularlyonyourharddiskdrivetoimprovedataseekandreadtimes.

4.T ofreeupdiskspace,uninstallunusedapplicationprograms.

Note:Youmightalsowanttolookforapplicationprogramduplicationoroverlappingversions.

5.CleanoutyourInbox,Sent,andT rashfoldersfr omyoure-mailclientprogram.

6.A tleastonceaweek,makeapointtobackupyourdata.Ifcriticaldataispresent,itisagoodidea

toperformadailybackup.Lenovohasmanybackupoptionsavailableforyourcomputer.Rewritable

opticaldrivesareavailableformostmachinesandareeasilyinstalled.

7.UseorscheduleSystemRestoretotakeasystemsnapshotperiodically.Formoreinformationabout

SystemRestoreseeRecoveryoverview.

8.Updat edevicedriversandUEFIBIOSwhenneeded.

9.P roleyourmachineathttp://www.lenovo.com/supportt okeepuptodatewithcurrentdriversand

revisions.

10.K eepuptodatefordevicedriversonothernon-Lenovohardware.Y oumightwanttoreadthedevice

driverinformationreleasenotespriortoupdatingforcompatibilityorknownissues.

11.K eepalogbook.Entriesmightincludemajorhardwareorsoftwarechanges,driverupdates,minor

issuesyouhaveexperiencedandhowyouresolvedthem.

12.Ifyoueverneedtorunarecoveryonyourcomputertoreturnthepreloadontothemachine,the

followingtipsmighthelpalongtheway:

•Removeallexternaldevicessuchastheprinter,keyboard,etc.

•Makesurethatyourbatteryischargedandthatyouhavetheacpowerconnected.

•BootintotheThinkPadSetupandloadthedefaultsettings.

•Restartthemachineandstarttherecovery.

•Ifyourmachineusesdiscsastherecoverymedia,DONOTremovethediscfromthedriveuntil

promptedtodoso.

13.F orsuspectedharddiskdriveissues,refertoUsingLenovoThinkVantageT oolboxandrunLenovo

ThinkVantageToolboxforadiagnostictestofthedrivepriortocallingtheCustomerSupportCenter.

Ifyourcomputerdoesnotstartup,downloadthelestocreateabootableself-testmediafromthe

followingWebsitehttp://www.lenovo.com/hddtest.Runthetestandrecordanymessagesorerror

codes.Ifthetestreturnsanyfailingerrorcodesormessages,calltheCustomerSupportCenterwiththe

codesormessagesandthecomputerinfrontofyou.Atechnicianwillassistyoufurther.