Lenovo 24684XU, L430, L530 Chapter9.Preventingproblems

Chapter9.Preventingproblems

AnimportantpartofowningaThinkPadnotebookcomputerismaintenance.Withpropercare,youcan

avoidcommonproblems.Thefollowingsectionsprovideinformationthatcanhelpyoutokeepyour

computerrunningsmoothly.

•“Generaltipsforpreventingproblems”onpage125

•“Makingsuredevicedriversarecurrent”onpage126

•“Takingcareofyourcomputer”onpage127

1.IfyourcomputerisequippedwithbothaharddiskdriveandanmSATAsolid-statedrive,youarenot

recommendedtousethemSATAsolid-statedriveasabootabledevice.ThemSAT Asolid-statedriveis

designedanddevelopedfor“cache”functionpurposeonly.IfyouusethemSATAsolid-statedriveasa

bootabledevice,itsreliabilityisnotguaranteed.

2.Checkthecapacityofyourharddiskdrivefromtimetotime.Iftheharddiskdrivegetstoofull,the

Windowsoperatingsystemwillslowdownandmightproduceerrors.

Tochecktheharddiskdrivecapacity,clickStart➙ComputerontheWindows7operatingsystem.For

theWindows8operatingsystem,openWindowsExplorerandclickComputer.

3.Emptyyourrecyclebinonaregularbasis.

4.Usediskdefragmenttoolregularlyonyourharddiskdrivetoimprovedataseekandreadtimes.

5.Tofreeupdiskspace,uninstallunusedprograms.

Note:Youmightalsowanttolookforprogramduplicationoroverlappingversions.

6.CleanoutyourInbox,Sent,andT rashfoldersfromyoure-mailclientprogram.

7.Atleastonceaweek,makeapointtobackupyourdata.Ifcriticaldataispresent,itisagoodidea

toperformadailybackup.Lenovohasmanybackupoptionsavailableforyourcomputer.Rewritable

opticaldrivesareavailableformostmachinesandareeasilyinstalled.

8.UseorscheduleSystemRestoretotakeasystemsnapshotperiodically.Formoreinformationabout

SystemRestore,see“Performingbackupandrecoveryoperations”onpage62.

9.UpdatedevicedriversandUEFIBIOSwhenneeded.

10.Proleyourmachineathttp://www.lenovo.com/supporttokeepuptodatewithcurrentdriversand

revisions.

11.Ensuredevicedriversfornon-Lenovoperipheraldevicesarekeptuptodate.Y oumightwanttoreadthe

devicedriverinformationreleasenotespriortoupdatingforcompatibilityorknownissues.

12.Keepalogbook.Entriesmightincludemajorhardwareorsoftwarechanges,driverupdates,minor

issuesyouhaveexperiencedandhowyouresolvedtheminorissues.

13.Ifyoueverneedtorunarecoveryonyourcomputertoreturnthepreloadontothemachine,the

followingtipsmighthelpalongtheway:

•Removeallexternaldevicessuchastheprinter,keyboardandsoon.

•Ensurethatyourbatteryischargedandthatyouhavetheacpowerconnected.

•BootintotheUEFIBIOSandloadthedefaultsettings.

•Restartthecomputerandstarttherecoveryoperation.

•Ifyourcomputerusesdiscsastherecoverymedia,donotremovethediscfromthedriveuntil

promptedtodoso.

14.F orsuspectedharddiskdriveissues,referto“Diagnosingproblems”onpage131andrunadiagnostic

testofthedrivebeforeyoucalltheCustomerSupportCenter.Ifyourcomputerdoesnotstartup,