User guide

•Ensurethattheserialcableissecurelyconnectedtotheserialportonthecomputerandtotheserial
device.Iftheserialdevicehasitsownpowercord,ensurethatitisattachedtoaproperlygrounded
electricaloutlet.
•IftheserialdevicehasitsownOn/Offswitch,ensurethatitisintheOnposition.
•IftheserialdevicehasanOnlineswitch,ensurethatitisintheOnlineposition.
•Iftheserialdeviceisaprinter,ensurethatpaperisloadedcorrectly.
•Verifythatanysoftwaresuppliedwiththeserialdeviceiscorrectlyinstalled.Refertothedocumentation
fortheserial-deviceoption.
•Ensurethattheserial-portadapter,ifyouaddedone,isproperlyinstalledandrmlyseated.
Iftheseactionsdonotcorrecttheproblem,runtheLenovoSolutionCenterprogram.Ifyouneedtechnical
assistance,seeChapter11“Gettinginformation,help,andservice”onpage127.
Softwareproblems
Selectyoursymptomfromthefollowinglist:
•“Whenusingasortfeature,datesdonotsortinthecorrectorder”onpage124
•“Softwaredoesnotworkasexpected”onpage124
Whenusingasortfeature,datesdonotsortinthecorrectorder
Symptom:Whenusingasortfeature,datesdonotsortinthecorrectorder.
Action:Somesoftwaredevelopedbeforetheyear2000usedonlythelasttwodigitsofayeartosort
dates,alwaysassumingthersttwodigitswere19.Consequently,theseprogramssortdatesoutoforder.
Checkwithyoursoftwaremanufacturertoseeifanyupdatesareavailable.Manysoftwaremanufacturers
makeupdatesavailablefromtheWorldWideWeb.
Softwaredoesnotworkasexpected
Symptom:Softwaredoesnotworkasexpected.
Actions:
•Mostsoftwareprogramshavebuilt-inhelpsystemsthatprovideinstructionsformosttasks.Ifyouare
havingdifcultyperformingaspecictaskwithinasoftwareprogram,refertothehelpsystemforthat
program.Helpsystemsaretypicallyaccessiblefromamenuorbuttonintheprogram,andfrequently
fromtheF1key.
•IfyouarehavingdifcultywiththeWindowsoperatingsystemoroneofitscomponents,refertothe
Windowshelpsystem.ItisaccessiblefromtheWindowsStartmenu.
•Todetermineifproblemsarecausedbynewlyinstalledsoftware,verifythat:
–Yourcomputerhastheminimummemoryrequirementsneededtousethesoftware.Seethe
informationsuppliedwiththesoftwaretoverifymemoryrequirements.(Ifyoujustinstalledanadapter
ormemory,youmighthaveamemory-addressconict.)
–Thesoftwareisdesignedtooperateonyourcomputer.
–Othersoftwareworksonyourcomputer.
–Thesoftwareyouareusingworkscorrectlyonanothercomputer.
•Ifyoureceivedanyerrormessageswhileusingthesoftwareprogram,seetheprinteddocumentation
suppliedwiththesoftwareorthehelpsystemforthatsoftwareforadescriptionofthemessagesand
solutionstotheproblem.
124ThinkCentreUserGuide