I've got a homebuilt computer running XP pro that is constantly losing time. Over the course of a day the computer's clock will be off by 15-30 minutes. I've got the computer set to use an internet time server to update itself. When I force an update from time.windows.com or NIST the time corrects but within an hour or two it's off by a minute or so. Another forced update repairs the problem.
Any clue?
Oh, and this is all while the computer is running so I don't think it's a bad battery though I'm not ruling it out. the motherboard and battery are both about 6 months old.
Thanks
I had similar a problem on my Windows box except that my system clock was gaining time. I was gaining 5 or so minutes every hour. Highly annoying. I ruled out the battery because the clock was set find after a restart. Strangley, the only way I could seem to fix the problem was to stop using the Internet time server. Since them, I've had no problems. I can't really explain why though. I hope this helps!
--Mark--
Is the system overclocked in any way?
Yes, my system is running an Athlon XP-M overclocked about 400Mhz. And My time is actually running fast not slow. The clock is gaining time.
Try clocking it back to spec and see what happens to the time. If it still has problems, then it's the RTC. If regular clocking fixes it, you've got timebase issues, and the only way I know to fix it is if you use a Linux or BSD distro. Those allow you to point to a different timer for clock timings. I have no idea if there is a way to do that with Windows. There might be something you can do in the mobo BIOS settings to change the clock behaviour but that would dpend highly on which one you are using.
The XP-M is a mobile processor, right? I know many laptops have timebase issues, but I dunno if it's the mobos or the proc. in more modern ones.
Well, I still believe it could be a problem with XP. I've encountered numrous and lengthy threads on this subject. For example:
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/archive/index.php/t-34314.html
Not everyone could fix their issue, and not everyone could fix it using the easy method I used. Very few eople reported any hardware issues. Apparantly, and this might as a big shock to most of you, but Windows sucks. I was shocked when I found out.
Anyway, it might be a good idea to take a look at though.
If you reboot your machine, and the time is coming up as accurate, your hardware is probably fine. If the BIOS clock was innacurate then I would be more concerned about your hardware. You didn't say...did you unsync to the to the network clock and reboot? Ever since I did that, my clock has worked just fine.
--Mark--
Install a free program called "Tardis" and set it to auto synchronize your clock.
I never restarted my computer after adjusting the time. After a restart the problem seems to have gone away. I don't have the internet time activated but I don't need it if the time stays accurate.
Thanks for all the help.