Why can't my very expensive and sophisticated computer tell time? [Archive]

Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : Why can't my very expensive and sophisticated computer tell time?

adl6009

06-23-2002, 06:02 PM

Sometimes I'll come back and it will be 4 hours ago. Or 2 hours off. I'll sync the clock and it will do it again. I checked mskb for keyword time and clock, maybe I'm the only one with this problem?
I have win xp at home.

gibsinep

06-23-2002, 06:04 PM

You bios Battery may be going dead. :(

adl6009

06-23-2002, 07:03 PM

Posible, but not likely. It's new.

Kurylo

06-23-2002, 07:05 PM

Check a voltage of your mobo's accumulator battery. It should be 3.0V +/- 10% under load (mobo's RTC).

danee

06-24-2002, 12:26 AM

Possibly the CPU.
I have actually seen this exact thing before...
It was on a Acer PIII 800 (when brand new).
After trying literally dozens of tech testing software, which all apparently test 'everything', i still couldnt fault anything. Then finally i got a BIOS update for the M/B which proved it was the CPU. Actually after the BIOS update, which prior to this machine i ran on 5 other systems.. all of them fine, the system crashed hard.. quite simply the CPU was totally rejected.

It turned out, after everything, that the CPU was faulty, but did still work partly. Noticeable events from the CPU...
Time Lag... (as you previously described)
Very high CPU usage for an unknown reason (benchmarked)
Errors in calculations (any calculations perfomed under any app, had a approx 40% chance of being wrong.)
Obscure (unknown reason for) Software crashes.

But then again,.. you problem could just be windows.

arkie

06-24-2002, 11:59 AM

Very common with new Dell computers running XP. Dell has a patch to correct and other suggestions.

The patch never fixed mine, my clock gains time. I tried all their suggestions but nothing helped. So I downloaded and installed
Rocket.Time. (http://www.rocketsoftware.com/rockettime/screenshot.asp)

It's neat, small, trouble free and free. I have it set to reset my Windows clock every day. Now my clock stays accurate to the second.

Sterling_Aug

06-24-2002, 12:44 PM

I use AnalogX Timesync which is also free.

http://www.analogx.com

RampageIII

06-24-2002, 02:16 PM

Atomic Timesync (http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/ats.htm) to be precise.:)

Had to do a search when I couldn't find it.:)

Kurylo

06-24-2002, 04:18 PM

HA! WinXP has its own automatic time synchronization module!

arkie

06-24-2002, 04:42 PM

Originally posted by Kurylo
HA! WinXP has its own automatic time synchronization module!

HA! Yes..... but

That's the problem... it doesn't work as it should. Maybe if one had the option to reset more often it might help. :t

adl6009

06-24-2002, 08:28 PM

Never did think of checking dell's support site. Had such a rocky start with dell I would almost prefer to forget it is a dell system. I will check out the patch and see. I had automatically blamed windows. I figured thats what runs the clock.
Thanks Dudes.

arkie

06-24-2002, 08:37 PM

Here is the Dell patch and other instructions. (http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/document.asp?DN=1060115)

Not sure if the site will work unless you are registered at Dell support?

I don't hear of the problem as much except with Dell computers so I think it has something to do with the computer and not Windows?

Johnny Fist

06-24-2002, 10:21 PM

Because it sucks.

Clean Richards

06-25-2002, 04:38 AM

You're getting a Dell dude. ;)