Erratic System Clock

[Gordon Hansen]

I've got an old Pentium 60Mhz on a Shuttle Hot-523 motherboard. The clock was running slow so I installed an off-board battery (the original is soldered to the board.) The new battery was connected to a 4 pin connector close to the battery. Originally there was a jumper across the middle 2 pins. The battery connects to the outer two pins.

After pulling the jumper I expected the CMOS to be reset, but, it wasn't. The clock appeared to keep time - with the system off for 2 days the clock was still OK. Now its sporadically loosing time again. Even with the computer on, going in and out of Control Panel (Windows 95)can affect the clock. Any thoughts?

[scotter]

make sure you got the right battery for it has to be the right voltage also make sure it has a good charge on it if it was setting on a shelf for 5 years it was probably close to dead its self the other thing is leave your system running for a few days with out shutting it off before you do set the time in bios to the right time and the time in windows to the same time after a few days check time in windows turn off the computer let it set for a day off then restart the computer and check time in the bios if the bios is still correct then it is windows that is the problem if not then its the battery or the motherboard good luck /forum/smile.gif
oops note down load a atom time program so set your windows and bioes time to a clock that realy keeps correct time /forum/smile.gif

[Nathan]

Try turning off the power management features in both CMOS and in Control Panel (power icon, if you have one, and where you set the screen saver)

Let us know.

[Gordon Hansen]

Scotter & Nathan,
Thanks for the tips.

Going to be away from the system till next Monday. Left it running in the meantime.

[Axel]

How up to date is your virus scan software? Wouldn't hurt to do a good sweep of your system as well just in case. Lastly - is there an update for the BIOS on that board? The BIOS itself may have an issue.
If all else fails, and the time thing really bothers you - replace the board.

[Gordon Hansen]

Axel,
Virus software is up todate.
As far as a bios update, I don't think there's much chance. From the bios numbers that show up during boot I figured out that the MB is a Shuttle Hot-523. When you go to their Web page you can't find any reference to it. Hey - its an old 60 MHz system - beyond a battery not worth spending any money on.
Thanks for the input.

[johnpaul]

Hi Gordon,
An easy fix would be to install a time synchronizer program. I use freeware called Dimension 4. Since my clock only loses a minute or two each week, I have it set so it synchchronizes at bootup, then retires. You could also tell it to synch every hour, minute, etc. http://www.thinkman.com/~thinkman/dimension4/index.htm

JP