Lenovo ThinkPad T430 - Chapter 9. Preventing Problems; General Tips for Preventing Problems

Chapter9.Preventingproblems
AnimportantpartofowningaThinkPadnotebookcomputerismaintenance.Withpropercare,you
canavoidcommonproblems.Thischapterprovidesinformationthatcanhelpyoukeepyourcomputer
runningsmoothly.
•“Generaltipsforpreventingproblems”onpage131
•“Makingsuredevicedriversarecurrent”onpage132
•“Takingcareofyourcomputer”onpage133
Generaltipsforpreventingproblems
1.IfyourcomputerisequippedwithbothaharddiskdriveandanmSATAsolidstatedrive,youarenot
recommendedtousethemSATAsolidstatedriveasabootabledevice.ThemSATAsolidstatedriveis
designedanddevelopedfor“cache”functionpurposeonly.IfyouusethemSATAsolidstatedriveasa
bootabledevice,itsreliabilityisnotguaranteed.
2.Checkthecapacityofyourharddiskdrivefromtimetotime.Iftheharddiskdrivegetstoofull,the
Windowsoperatingsystemwillslowdownandmightproduceerrors.
Tochecktheharddiskdrivecapacity,clickStart➙ComputerontheWindows7operatingsystem.For
theWindows8operatingsystem,opentheWindowsExplorerandclickComputer.
3.Emptyyourrecyclebinonaregularbasis.
4.Usediskdefragmenttoolregularlyonyourharddiskdrivetoimprovedataseekandreadtimes.
5.Tofreeupdiskspace,uninstallunusedapplicationprograms.
Note:Youalsomightwanttolookforapplicationprogramduplicationoroverlappingversions.
6.CleanoutyourInbox,Sent,andTrashfoldersfromyoure-mailclientprogram.
7.Backupyourdataatleastonceaweek.Ifcriticaldataispresent,itisagoodideatoperformadaily
backupoperation.Lenovohasmanybackupoptionsavailableforyourcomputer.Rewritableoptical
drivesareavailableformostmachinesandareeasilyinstalled.
8.Schedulesystemrestoreoperationstotakeasystemsnapshotperiodically.Formoreinformationabout
systemrestore,see“RecoveryoverviewforWindows7models”onpage63.
9.UpdatedevicedriversandUEFIBIOSwhenneeded.
10.Proleyourmachineathttp://www.lenovo.com/supporttokeepuptodatewithcurrentdriversand
revisions.
11.Ensuredevicedriversfornon-Lenovoperipheraldevicesarekeptuptodate.Youmightwanttoreadthe
devicedriverinformationreleasenotespriortoupdatingforcompatibilityorknownissues.
12.Keepalogbook.Entriesmightincludemajorhardwareorsoftwarechanges,driverupdates,minor
issuesyouhaveexperienced,andhowyouresolvedtheminorissues.
13.Ifyoueverneedtorunarecoveryonyourcomputertoreturnthepreloadontothemachine,the
followingtipsmighthelpalongtheway:
•Removeallexternaldevicessuchastheprinter,keyboard,andsoon.
•Makesurethatyourbatteryischargedandthatyouhavetheacpowerconnected.
•BootintoThinkPadSetupandloadthedefaultsettings.
•Restartthecomputerandstarttherecoveryoperation.
•Ifyourcomputerusesdiscsastherecoverymedia,donotremovethediscfromthedriveuntil
promptedtodoso.
14.Forsuspectedharddiskdriveissues,referto“Diagnosingproblems”onpage137andruna
diagnostictestofthedrivepriortocallingtheCustomerSupportCenter.Ifyourcomputerdoes
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