Lenovo ThinkPad L430 - Chapter 9. Preventing Problems; General Problem Prevention Tips

Chapter9.Preventingproblems
AnimportantpartofowningaThinkPadnotebookcomputerismaintenance.Withpropercare,youcan
avoidcommonproblems.Thefollowingsectionsprovideinformationthatcanhelpyoutokeepyour
computerrunningsmoothly.
•“Generaltipsforpreventingproblems”onpage121
•“Makingsuredevicedriversarecurrent”onpage122
•“Takingcareofyourcomputer”onpage123
Generaltipsforpreventingproblems
1.IfyourcomputerisequippedwithbothaharddiskdriveandanmSATAsolidstatedrive,youarenot
recommendedtousethemSATAsolidstatedriveasabootabledevice.ThemSATAsolidstatedriveis
designedanddevelopedfor“cache”functionpurposeonly.IfyouusethemSATAsolidstatedriveasa
bootabledevice,itsreliabilityisnotguaranteed.
2.Checkthecapacityofyourharddiskdrivefromtimetotime.Iftheharddiskdrivegetstoofull,the
Windowsoperatingsystemwillslowdownandmightproduceerrors.
Note:Tocheckthecapacityforyourharddiskdrive,clickStart➙Computer.
3.Emptyyourrecyclebinonaregularbasis.
4.Usediskdefragmenttoolregularlyonyourharddiskdrivetoimprovedataseekandreadtimes.
5.Tofreeupdiskspace,uninstallunusedapplicationprograms.
Note:Youmightalsowanttolookforapplicationprogramduplicationoroverlappingversions.
6.CleanoutyourInbox,Sent,andTrashfoldersfromyoure-mailclientprogram.
7.Atleastonceaweek,makeapointtobackupyourdata.Ifcriticaldataispresent,itisagoodidea
toperformadailybackup.Lenovohasmanybackupoptionsavailableforyourcomputer.Rewritable
opticaldiskdrivesareavailableformostmachinesandareeasilyinstalled.
8.UseorscheduleSystemRestoretotakeasystemsnapshotperiodically.Formoreinformationabout
SystemRestore,see“Performingbackupandrecoveryoperations”onpage60.
9.UpdatedevicedriversandUEFIBIOSwhenneeded.
10.Proleyourmachineathttp://www.lenovo.com/supporttokeepuptodatewithcurrentdriversand
revisions.
11.Keepuptodatefordevicedriversonothernon-Lenovohardware.Youmightwanttoreadthedevice
driverinformationreleasenotespriortoupdatingforcompatibilityorknownissues.
12.Keepalogbook.Entriesmightincludemajorhardwareorsoftwarechanges,driverupdates,minor
issuesyouhaveexperiencedandhowyouresolvedtheminorissues.
13.Ifyoueverneedtorunarecoveryonyourcomputertoreturnthepreloadontothemachine,the
followingtipsmighthelpalongtheway:
•Removeallexternaldevicessuchastheprinter,keyboardandsoon.
•Ensurethatyourbatteryischargedandthatyouhavetheacpowerconnected.
•BootintotheUEFIBIOSandloadthedefaultsettings.
•Restartthecomputerandstarttherecoveryoperation.
•Ifyourcomputerusesdiscsastherecoverymedia,donotremovethediscfromthedriveuntil
promptedtodoso.
14.Forsuspectedharddiskdriveissues,referto“Diagnosingproblems”onpage127andrunadiagnostic
testofthedrivebeforeyoucalltheCustomerSupportCenter.Ifyourcomputerdoesnotstartup,
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