Clock time messed up

[marek_online]

Hi,

My clock keeps dropping time over periods when the machine is shutdown. It doesn't seem to happen when the machine is working. I'm losing nine or ten hours overnight.

It shouldn't be the battery on the motherboard, as the laptop is less than six months old, and only started when I installed Gutsy. I doesn't happen every time the machine is shutdown, just sometimes, and usually overngiht (for example, it's currently 10:38 on the 28th November, and my clock is showing 00:07 on the 28th).

Any suggestions as to what might be happening?

[Fintan]

Re: Clock time messed up

That is strange. Just a suggestion. Can you dual boot (win or another linux flavor)? If so check and see what that OS does.

AfaIk the OS takes it's time from the motherboard or the internet (if set to do that) and doesn't "take" time itself.

I hope this helps a bit

[dibl]

Re: Clock time messed up

I'm losing nine or ten hours overnight.

It shouldn't be the battery on the motherboard, as the laptop is less than six months old, and only started when I installed Gutsy.

Nine or ten hours sounds like the entire time the machine is powered off, right? Linux or any other OS cannot disable the battery, AFAIK. It is odd that this problem began when you installed Gutsy -- there is always the possibility of a coincidence. What OS did you use before? Why did you change to a new OS?

[Uber Nooblett]

Re: Clock time messed up

I've had a similar prob, but only 1 hour was lost each time I rebooted (not actually a shutdown, just a quick reboot).

As for 9 or 10 hours, sounds like perhaps your pill battery on the mobo is kaput and you are switching off the PC at the wall, in which case it might well reset the clock. Other than that I dont know *shrug*

Good luck finding the source of your woes x

[marek_online]

Re: Clock time messed up


Thanks for replies.

Yeah, I'm beginning to suspect coincidence with the Gutsy install. I had just hoped a bad battery wasn't the issue. The system doesn't dual-boot - it's Gutsy all the way - so that's not available as a control condition alas. Would a live CD work as a test?

I'll have to do a more careful check to see whether it's the entire time the computer's switched off that's being lost. I had thought it wasn't - sometimes I just lost a couple of hours rather than an overnight run, but that could well have been the battery becoming unreliable before it failed completely. I'll do a couple of more careful checks and see.

GGG - I don't know if it's same problem you had, but on my old Dapper box it wouldn't keep daylight savings time across reboots (hence a one hour drop). Might be the same problem you had? Can't say I know how to fix it though, but it should have stopped at the end of October if that was it.

[cantab]

Re: Clock time messed up

This is a laptop right. Hmmm...do they always HAVE separate motherboard batteries? Or could the clock just be maintained by the normal one. Do you leave your computer plugged into the mains when it's turned off - if not, try doing so and see if this fixes the issue.

[marek_online]

Re: Clock time messed up

Don't think the clock's maintained by the laptop main battery, as I haven't noticed the time drop after every shutdown, and the machine rarely has the battery in it (I use it as a portable desktop between work and home, and want to maintain the battery's lifespan).

I tried switching off and plugging out earlier, just for fifteen minutes (can't afford too much time lost while at work), there was no time drop then. It clearly needs a bit more time before it kicks in.

[SheeEttin]

Re: Clock time messed up

The clock is powered by the battery on the motherboard, so that when the laptop's battery is removed the clock keeps going.
Perhaps the battery s dead. I'd open up the laptop, check the battery, and get hold of another one. (Stores like Radio Shack often carry this kind of battery.)

If you've always got your laptop connected to the Internet when you turn it on, consider placing a command like "ntpdate -b pool.ntp.org" in a script executed at boot time (or in an "at boot time" cron job). (You can also choose an NTP server closer to you, see here for more info.)