Lenovo thinkpad 13 - Making Sure Device Drivers Are Up-To-Date

–Ifyourcomputerusesdiscsastherecoverymedia,donotremovethediscfromthedriveuntil
promptedtodoso.
•Forsuspectedharddiskdriveissues,referto“Diagnosingproblems”onpage77andrunadiagnostic
testforthedrivebeforeyoucalltheCustomerSupportCenter.Ifyourcomputerdoesnotstartup,
downloadthefilestocreateabootableself-testmediumfromhttp://www.lenovo.com/hddtest.Runthe
testandrecordanymessagesorerrorcodes.Ifthetestreturnsanyfailingerrorcodesormessages,
calltheCustomerSupportCenterwiththecodesormessagesandthecomputerinfrontofyou.A
technicianwillassistyoufurther.
•Ifrequired,youcanfindthecontactinformationabouttheCustomerSupportCenterforyourcountry
orregionathttp://www.lenovo.com/support/phone.WhencallingtheCustomerSupportCenter,make
surethatyouhaveyourmachinemodeltype,serialnumber,andthecomputerinfrontofyou.Also,ifthe
computerisproducingerrorcodes,itishelpfultohavetheerrorscreenonorthemessageswrittendown.
Makingsuredevicedriversareup-to-date
Devicedriversareprogramsthatcontaininstructionsfortheoperatingsystemabouthowtooperateor
“drive”acertainpieceofhardware.Eachhardwarecomponentonyourcomputerhasitsownspecificdriver.
Ifyouaddanewcomponent,theoperatingsystemneedstobeinstructedonhowtooperatethatpiece
ofhardware.Afteryouinstallthedriver,theoperatingsystemcanrecognizethehardwarecomponent
andunderstandhowtouseit.
Note:Becausedriversareprograms,likeanyotherfileonyourcomputer,theyaresusceptibletocorruption
andmightnotperformcorrectlyifcorruptionoccurs.
Itisnotalwaysnecessarytodownloadthelatestdrivers.However,youshoulddownloadthelatestdriver
foracomponentifyounoticepoorperformancefromthatcomponentorifyouaddedanewcomponent.
Thismighteliminatethedriverasthepotentialcauseofaproblem.
GettingthelatestdriversfromtheWebsite
YoucandownloadandinstallupdateddevicedriversfromtheLenovoWebsitebydoingthefollowing:
1.Gotohttp://www.lenovo.com/ThinkPadDrivers.
2.Selecttheentryforyourcomputerandthenfollowtheinstructionsonthescreentodownloadand
installnecessarysoftware.
GettingthelatestdriversusingSystemUpdate
TheSystemUpdateprogramhelpsyoukeepthesoftwareonyourcomputerup-to-date.Updatepackages
arestoredonLenovoserversandcanbedownloadedfromtheLenovoSupportWebsite.Updatepackages
cancontainapplications,devicedrivers,UEFIBIOSflashes,orsoftwareupdates.WhentheSystemUpdate
programconnectstotheLenovoSupportWebsite,theSystemUpdateprogramautomaticallyrecognizes
themachinetypeandmodelofyourcomputer,theinstalledoperatingsystem,andthelanguageofthe
operatingsystemtodeterminewhatupdatesareavailableforyourcomputer.TheSystemUpdateprogram
thendisplaysalistofupdatepackagesandcategorizeseachupdateascritical,recommended,oroptionalto
helpyouunderstandtheimportance.Youhavecompletecontrolofwhichupdatestodownloadandinstall.
Afteryouselecttheupdatepackagesyouwant,theSystemUpdateprogramautomaticallydownloadsand
installstheupdateswithoutanyfurtherinterventionfromyou.
TheSystemUpdateprogramispreinstalledonyourcomputerandisreadytorun.Theonlyprerequisiteis
anactiveInternetconnection.Youcanstarttheprogrammanually,oryoucanusetheschedulefeature
toenabletheprogramtosearchforupdatesautomaticallyatspecifiedintervals.Youalsocanpredefine
scheduledupdatestosearchbyseverity(criticalupdates,criticalandrecommendedupdates,orallupdates)
sothelistyouchoosefromcontainsonlythoseupdatetypesthatareofinteresttoyou.
72ThinkPad13UserGuide