Clock making me mad

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i just bought my computer 2 months ago, and now the clock will not keep time.
It is not snychronizing properly, and I will be pretty angry if it is my
battery.
 
Cugie said:
i just bought my computer 2 months ago, and now the clock will not
keep time. It is not snychronizing properly, and I will be pretty
angry if it is my battery.
Click to expand...

However, the battery is an easy fix - since the computer is only 2 months
old..
 
i just bought my computer 2 months ago, and now the clock will not keep time.
It is not snychronizing properly, and I will be pretty angry if it is my
battery.
Click to expand...

The battery only needs replacing if the time is off at startup. Windows
picks up the time from the system at start up. From that point on, it
advances time using its own mechanisms.

If time discrepancies occur after startup, then look for a different
solution. For example: programs hogging cpu cycles or cleaners that bounce
the date and time around to access otherwise inaccessible files. Some Dells
early in XP's life cycle had a problem keeping time. Dell released a
fix/patch for those systems.
 
In Sharon F <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
The battery only needs replacing if the time is off at startup.
Windows picks up the time from the system at start up. From that
point on, it advances time using its own mechanisms.

If time discrepancies occur after startup, then look for a different
solution. For example: programs hogging cpu cycles or cleaners that
bounce the date and time around to access otherwise inaccessible
files. Some Dells early in XP's life cycle had a problem keeping
time. Dell released a fix/patch for those systems.
Click to expand...

Heyya Sharon :)

Tag! You're it...

Anyhow, let's also make the OP paranoid? It could also be that it came from
the factory with a bad RTC (real time chip or real time clock) which is a
chip on the motherboard that's responsible for clock functions. You can
replace them but it's not easy and requires specialized soldering guns and
removers as well as a heat shield. If your clock requires setting from the
SAME date and time each time you boot then it's the battery in most cases.
Clocks seldom fade due to the battery, they just die and all BIOS settings
are lost. On the other hand if time slows down over a period of time
(sometimes it can be failing for years before a complete failure occurs)
then it's USUALLY the RTC that's at fault if it's not something mentioned by
Sharon like CPU cycles being eaten up by something major. I should think
that if you were having enough resources to slow the clock down enough to
notice it then you'd be posting different questions though.

Open the Control Panel, click classic view, open the System applet...
Hardware tab, device manager... Expand system devices... Is there a Yellow
warning flag next to System CMOS/Real Time Clock? If so RMA your board...
Send it back while it's still under waranty... Even if it isn't flagged
replace your battery (no reason to be mad about it, it happens all the time
and even fresh out of the package they come dead at times) with a new one.

This is going to sound insane but, if you don't have a multimeter or the
like you can just pop said battery into your mouth. Really... It's very low
voltage but enough to tingle a little. Make sure it contacts on both sides
in your mouth. If it tingles and your clock's slowing down but not stopping
or resetting to the same exact date and time then you've a serious issue and
it's nothing you want to play with as a home user.

I'm not kidding about putting it in your mouth... Dry it off before putting
it back in the case of course.

Galen
 
In
Cugie said:
i just bought my computer 2 months ago, and now the clock will
not
keep time. It is not snychronizing properly, and I will be
pretty
angry if it is my battery.
Click to expand...

Before anyone whose clock is running slow rushes out to buy a new
battery, he should first take note of whether he is losing time
while the computer is running or while it's powered off. If it's
while powered off, the problem *is* very likely the battery. But
if it's while running, it can *not* be the battery, because the
battery isn't used while the computer is running.

If the clock loses time while running, try this:

Open a command prompt window (Start | Run | cmd) and enter the
following commands:

net stop w32time

w32tm /unregister

w32tm /register

net start w32time


By the way, even if it turns out to be the battery, a new one
only costs a couple of dollars, and isn't really much of a
problem.
 
Heyya Sharon :)

Tag! You're it...
Click to expand...

Hi, Galen!

Aside: Whenever I get a new system, I check time/date in BIOS settings.
Then work with time/date in Windows. Old habit, I guess.
 
In
Sharon F said:
Aside: Whenever I get a new system, I check time/date in BIOS
settings. Then work with time/date in Windows. Old habit, I guess.
Click to expand...

Me too as a general rule I actually try to stay out of the BIOS as much as
possible. I've only flashed my own BIOS a single time on all the computers
that I have owned and that was because it was a nessesity and too long a
story to bother with today. Other than that once the PC is old and there's a
replacement I take out all the stops and have been known to overclock them
here and there mostly just to see how it was done and how fast you can get
it to go. Lately I've been using not the fastest PC in the house but the one
that does the trick the best and is the most stable. It's a simple AMD XP
3200+ (MINOTAUR if you caught the posts in DTS) with just 1 GB of RAM. It's
on a GigaByte board and I've been tempted to play with it because there's a
lot of room to OC it and the both the board and chip seem to be expecting me
to do so.

Back onto the topic for a moment... It's less common now to see problems
with the RTC right out of the factory door. When a system is new it should
be given the burn in process which should hopefully highlight these
problems. A good 72 hour intensive burn-in is enough to cause most hardware
to fail that's going to fail in the next five years or so. I've never had a
problem with hardware that has passed a 72 hour burn-in though I've waited
almost two weeks recently as parts kept getting replaced due to failure.
(They gave me a bunch of free goodies to go along with it so I didn't mind
too much and it's not like I was without a computer.) When getting a custom
PC built the first thing I check (after price and components that I'm
specifically looking for) is to see if they offer burn-in testing in house
and how much they charge for it. When I buy a custom piece I expect it to be
have gone through it and I don't expect to pay extra for it or if it is
extra I don't expect it to be a lot of money. After all, if I wanted to end
up taking it apart to send parts back I'd have saved even more money and put
it together myself.

Unfortunately I don't know if the big OEMs do this. I suspect that they
don't though they surely must have some sort of QoS processes, maybe if they
did there wouldn't be quite as much need to outsource the support centers to
other countries. It's not quite so common a problem and the whole bit about
sticking the battery in their mouth was completely serious. Now really? Do
you think I'd make something like that up? <g>

Galen
 
Back onto the topic for a moment... It's less common now to see problems
with the RTC right out of the factory door.
Click to expand...

Have had a few ship with the time set for a different zone :)

Sounds like you're having lots of fun with all those different systems. I
had a Gigabyte board on the last system and it performed well. Was very
happy with it. Now have an A... oh crumb, never remember if it's Asus or
Abit... just a sec. It's an Abit (AN7). There's settings on this board I've
never seen on others. Most of these are for overclocking which I don't get
into either.
 
In Sharon F <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
Have had a few ship with the time set for a different zone :)

Sounds like you're having lots of fun with all those different
systems. I had a Gigabyte board on the last system and it performed
well. Was very happy with it. Now have an A... oh crumb, never
remember if it's Asus or Abit... just a sec. It's an Abit (AN7).
There's settings on this board I've never seen on others. Most of
these are for overclocking which I don't get into either.
Click to expand...

That's not too bad a board. Once you get a replacement for that one you can
feel free to OC it which is an education in and of itself. It's also a lot
of fun. I don't recommend that most people try it because no matter who you
are if you're willing to push a little then chances are you'll want to push
more and eventually you WILL break something. But if it's an old standby
system or one that you were going to donate anyhow you might as well see
what you can do with it and how far you can push it. I've managed to get an
old AMD K6-II 350 to run at about 525 and stay stable though it got pretty
warm it never stopped. I think I still own it somewhere and that it's
probably still set to run at that speed. It was pretty amazing back then. It
was benchmarking somewhere near the PIII 650s or so, it was pretty neat.

Galen
 
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