Windows Time Service

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mark Blain
  • Start date Start date
M

Mark Blain

I've got an old standalone pc with a dead RTC battery running Win2K Pro.
I'm migrating off of it, so it's not worth replacing the battery. Since I
have an always-on internet connection, I thought it would be educational to
enable the Windows Time Service and set the time on each boot instead.

My firewall is allowing SNTP and I'm connecting successfully to
tick.usno.navy.mil, but on startup, my event log says "Attempt to set time
which differs by more than 12 hours aborted".

How can I set the time on boot with the built-in service despite the large
difference due to my dead RTC clock?

I have a workaround using a third-party utility, but this is bugging me.
 
Mark said:
I've got an old standalone pc with a dead RTC battery running Win2K Pro.
I'm migrating off of it, so it's not worth replacing the battery. Since I
have an always-on internet connection, I thought it would be educational to
enable the Windows Time Service and set the time on each boot instead.

My firewall is allowing SNTP and I'm connecting successfully to
tick.usno.navy.mil, but on startup, my event log says "Attempt to set time
which differs by more than 12 hours aborted".

How can I set the time on boot with the built-in service despite the large
difference due to my dead RTC clock?

I have a workaround using a third-party utility, but this is bugging me.
Click to expand...

The solution might be more obvious than realized. Many motherboards
that are supplied with soldered RTC clock-battery combinations will
have pins that allow the use of an external battery. The motherboard
manual should be able to show the location of these pins and the type
of battery or its specifications that are needed. If such exists, then
getting the battery is the only thing left to do. If a local computer
store (not a "big box") or electronics supplier (incl. Radio Shack) is
not nearby, do a Google search.
 
Schedule this command to run at logon.

NET TIME \\128.138.140.44 /SET /Y
Click to expand...

"System error 53 has occurred... The network path was not found."

This should be redundant anyway, since I have the the time service
preconfigured with the name of an SNTP server and set to automatic. My
logs say it does connect to the server on its own, it just doesn't like the
time difference from the RTC so it refuses to set the time. Thanks,
though.
 
The solution might be more obvious than realized. Many motherboards
that are supplied with soldered RTC clock-battery combinations will
have pins that allow the use of an external battery. The motherboard
manual should be able to show the location of these pins and the type
of battery or its specifications that are needed. If such exists, then
getting the battery is the only thing left to do. If a local computer
store (not a "big box") or electronics supplier (incl. Radio Shack) is
not nearby, do a Google search.
Click to expand...

I would do so if I were keeping the system, but it will be junked very
soon. I needed a software solution that ignored the RTC, which I found
from another post. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
Mark said:
I would do so if I were keeping the system, but it will be junked very
soon. I needed a software solution that ignored the RTC, which I found
from another post. Thanks for the suggestion.
Click to expand...


My apologies...I sort of skipped by that part. And also my prejudice
about keeping older systems around...just in case. It is just that the
price of a battery (not the RTC-battery, e.g., Dallas) is inexpensive.
But I would junk an older system that is delimited by 2 generations
from the current, viz., Windows 3.X/9X.
 
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