Chapter8.Preventingproblems
AnimportantpartofowningaThinkPadnotebookcomputerismaintenance.Withpropercare,youcan
avoidcommonproblems.Thechapterprovidesinformationthatcanhelpyoukeepyourcomputerrunning
smoothly.
•“Generaltipsforpreventingproblems”onpage119
•“Makingsuredevicedriversarecurrent”onpage120
•“Takingcareofyourcomputer”onpage121

Generaltipsforpreventingproblems

1.IfyourcomputerisequippedwithbothaharddiskdriveandanM.2solid-statedrive,youarenot
recommendedtousetheM.2solid-statedriveasabootabledevice.TheM.2solid-statedriveis
designedanddevelopedforthe“cache”functionpurposeonly.IfyouusetheM.2solid-statedriveasa
bootabledevice,itsreliabilityisnotguaranteed.
2.Checkthecapacityofyourharddiskdrivefromtimetotime.Iftheharddiskdrivegetstoofull,the
Windowsoperatingsystemwillslowdownandmightpr oduceerrors.
Tochecktheharddiskdrivecapacity,clickStart➙ComputerontheWindows7operatingsystem.For
theWindows8operatingsystem,openWindowsExplorerandclickComputer.
3.Emptyyourrecyclebinonaregularbasis.
4.Usediskdefragmenttoolregularlyonyourharddiskdrivetoimprovedataseekandreadtimes.
5.Tofreeupdiskspace,uninstallunusedprograms.
Note:Youalsomightwanttolookforprogramduplicationoroverlappingversions.
6.CleanoutyourInbox,Sent,andTrashfoldersfromyoure-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.Forsuspectedharddiskdriveissues,referto“Diagnosingproblems”onpage125toruna
diagnostictestofthedrivebeforeyoucalltheCustomerSupportCenter.Ifyourcomput erdoes
©CopyrightLenovo2013119