Toshiba 33474HU Chapter8.Preventingproblems

Chapter8.Preventingproblems

AnimportantpartofowningaThinkPadnotebookcomputerismaintenance.Withpropercare,you

canavoidcommonproblems.Thischapterprovidesinformationthatcanhelpyoukeepyourcomputer

runningsmoothly.

•“Generaltipsforpreventingproblems”onpage81

•“Makingsuredevicedriversarecurrent”onpage82

•“Takingcareofyourcomputer”onpage83

1.IfyourcomputerisequippedwithbothaharddiskdriveandanmSATAsolid-statedrive,youarenot

recommendedtousethemSAT Asolid-statedriveasabootabledevice.ThemSAT Asolid-statedriveis

designedanddevelopedfor“cache”functionpurposeonly.IfyouusethemSA TAsolid-statedriveasa

bootabledevice,itsreliabilityisnotguaranteed.

2.Checkthecapacityofyourharddiskdrivefromtimetotime.Iftheharddiskdrivegetstoofull,the

Windowsoperatingsystemwillslowdownandmightproduceerrors.Tochecktheharddiskdrive

capaity,opentheWindowsExplor erandclickComputer.

3.Emptyyourrecyclebinonaregularbasis.

4.Usediskdefragmenttoolregularlyonyourhar ddiskdrivetoimprovedataseekandreadtimes.

5.Tofreeupdiskspace,uninstallunusedapplicationprograms.

Note:Youalsomightwanttolookforapplicationprogramduplicationoroverlappingversions.

6.CleanoutyourInbox,Sent,andTrashfoldersfromyoure-mailclientprogr am.

7.Backupyourdataatleastonceaweek.Ifcriticaldataispresent,itisagoodideatoperformadaily

backupoper ation.Lenovohasmanybackupoptionsavailableforyourcomputer.Rewritableoptical

drivesareavailableformostmachinesandareeasilyinstalled.

8.Schedulesystemrestoreoperationstotakeasystemsnapshotperiodically .Formoreinformationabout

systemrest ore,seeChapter5“Recoveryoverview”onpage47.

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.

•Ensurethatyourbatteryischargedandthatyouhavetheacpowerconnected.

•Bootint oThinkPadSetupandloadthedefaultsettings.

•Restartthecomputerandstarttherecoveryoperation.

•Ifyouusediscstorecoverthecomputer,donotremovethediscfromthedriveuntilpromptedto

doso.

14.Forsuspectedharddiskdriveissues,referto“Diagnosingproblems”onpage87toruna

diagnostictestofthedrivebeforeyoucalltheCustomerSupportCenter.Ifyourcomputerdoes

notstartup,downloadthelestocreateabootableself-t estmediafromthefollowingWebsite:

http://www.lenovo.com/hddtest.Runthetestandrecordanymessagesorerrorcodes.Ifthetest