Lenovo E431, E531 Chapter8.Preventingproblems

Chapter8.Preventingproblems

AnimportantpartofowningaThinkPadnotebookcomputerismaintenance.Withpropercare,youcan

avoidcommonproblems.Thechapterprovidesinformationthatcanhelpyoukeepyourcomputerrunning

smoothly.

•“Generaltipsforpreventingproblems”onpage119

•“Makingsuredevicedriversarecurrent”onpage120

•“Takingcareofyourcomputer”onpage121

1.IfyourcomputerisequippedwithbothaharddiskdriveandanM.2solid-statedrive,youarenot

recommendedtousetheM.2solid-statedriveasabootabledevice.TheM.2solid-statedriveis

designedanddevelopedforthe“cache”functionpurposeonly .IfyouusetheM.2solid-statedriveasa

bootabledevice,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-mailclientprogr am.

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”onpage125toruna

diagnostictestofthedrivebeforeyoucalltheCustomerSupportCenter.Ifyourcomputerdoes