Why aren't computer clocks accurate?

  • Thread starter Thread starter DJS0302
  • Start date Start date
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DJS0302

On my first pc the clock was always losing time from day 1, about a minute or
two every month. The clock on my new pc gains time. You would think that they
would be able to put an accurate clock in a computer.
 
DJS0302 said:
On my first pc the clock was always losing time from day 1, about a minute or
two every month. The clock on my new pc gains time. You would think that they
would be able to put an accurate clock in a computer.
Click to expand...

PC clocks are controlled by quartz crystal oscillators similar to the ones
used in wall or desk clocks. However, unlike timepiece clocks PC clocks were
never made adjustable or fine tunable because its not deemed necessary. If
you want accurate PC clock just get it to synchronise with one of the many
world's atomic clocks once a day. WinXP has got the function built-in and
active, usually set to 14 days, Win2k has the function disabled by default
but can easily be enabled, Win9x and NT4.0 need a 3rd party utility but
there are plenty of those around.
 
On my first pc the clock was always losing time from day 1, about a minute or
two every month. The clock on my new pc gains time. You would think that they
would be able to put an accurate clock in a computer.
Click to expand...

They could built it to be adjustable but the design, testing, tuning,
would raise price... How much more would you spend for a "more accurate
clock" feature?
 
In message <<[email protected]>> kony
They could built it to be adjustable but the design, testing, tuning,
would raise price... How much more would you spend for a "more accurate
clock" feature?
Click to expand...

And ultimately for a feature which the OS can handle relatively simply
anyway.
 
elziko said:
Really, how would I activate this in Win2K?
Click to expand...

Open Command prompt window and type:

net stop w32time
net time /setsntp:swisstime.ethz.ch
net start w32time

In Administrative Tools / Component Services double-click Windows Time and
set startup type to Automatic. Win2k will now synchronize its clock with the
Swiss atomic standard every 8 hours.
 
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