Problems with Windows Time

[Boegy3]

Okay, this is a really weird problem I've been having lately and I hope that it is a software problem indeed and not a hardware problem and that can be fixed with an easy solution.

Last night, it said that it was 11:05pm on the computer before i went to bed. When i went upstairs, i found that it was only 10:25pm. I thought that maybe the clock got messed up becuase it was so long since I syncronized it, although i probably would have seen it sooner. Anyway, i syncronized it with time.windows.com and it went back to 10:25. Okay, i go to bed, leaving my computer on overnight. The next morning, it showed 6:35 instead of 6:50. I syncronized it again and restarted it. When i got back from school today, the same thing happened.

It doesnt' seem to be too slow or too fast as it has been both. I'm pretty sure this is a problem and i've never seen or heard of this before except for older AT computers and the batteries running out.

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[redduc900]

Start | Run | Type cmd, and click OK | At the command prompt, type net stop w32time...ENTER | Type w32tm.exe /unregister...ENTER | Type w32tm.exe /register...ENTER | Type net start w32time.

...and of course check to make sure the Time Zone is set correctly in Windows, and the time and date are correct in the BIOS.

 

[Boegy3]

First of all, thanks a lot and I will wait a few hours to see if it worked.
Second, do you have to restart for this to take place?
Third, do you have any idea what could have caused this? Could hardware possibly be to blame?

 

[redduc900]

No, you shouldn't have to restart. The Windows clock keeps time by counting timer interrupts...these are based on the oscillator that drives the system bus, and that is not calibrated as a timekeeper. So the system has an estimate of what the actual interval is: this is adjusted when you do an Internet sync, so after a week or three it becomes very accurate. If it goes too far off the adjustment can't handle the matter and you need to start it over...which is what stopping and starting the service does.

Errors in it are usually large but pretty steady, if this is the cause...i.e. 10 minutes an hour. Erratic ones suggest possible nasty programs inhibiting the timer interrupt...these were certainly an annoyance in Win98, but XP shouldn't allow it. Errors in its rate while Windows is running are not to do with the onboard battery. That shows up as a wildly inaccurate time at boot after the system has been powered off a few hours, and in such a case you should replace it immediately, before it starts to forget BIOS settings too.

 

[Boegy3]

Okay, another thing i think i should add, when i unregistered w32tm.exe, it said that it was sucessfully "registered" and when i registered it, it said the same thing. Shouldn't it say unregistered the first time?

 

[redduc900]

Try these commands instead...

net stop w32time
w32tm /unregister
w32tm /register
net start w32time

...sorry about the confusion.

 

[Boegy3]

The same thing happened with the new commands. Anyway, I'll see if i still have the problem tommorow after stopping the service and restarting it and i'll update you guys then.

 

[Zuzzz]

As stupid as this will sound I had a P3 that would lose time like that. . . turned out to be a bad cap on the mo board. . . .

While nota serious problem it was crazy sitting here at night thinking it was 2 am and it had went much past 4 am.


Z

Wanna buy a P3 system?? (joke)

 

[redduc900]

I've got another idea...after entering the first w32tm /unregister command (and possibly receiving an error message), type the same command again:

net stop w32time
w32tm /unregister ...(ignore error message)
w32tm /unregister
w32tm /register
net start w32time

 

[Boegy3]

Okay, after doing what i did last night, i got home today at 3:09, but windows said it was 3:58, so since last night at 10 something when i went to bed, it gained about 50 minutes.

Okay, after here is what i get after i do the commands you last mentioned:

1) "The windows time service was stopped sucessfully."
2) "W32Time sucessfully registered."
3) same thing as above
4) "The windows time service was started sucessfully."

I don't think it's unregistering it, but I don't know why. Even though I type unregister, it still says it sucessfully registered.

Anyway, while at school today, I told my computer repair teacher about this and he said he was 100% sure that it was the CMOS battery and that I needed to get a new one. What do you guys think about that?

 

[diggingforgold]

It's possible, but mobo batteries usually last a long time- only a minimal amount of power is used from it every day. But if that is the culpret, It's a quick fix. Just pop out the old one, go up to your corner drug store to the battery area and look for one thats the same size (batteries like that are usually on a spinner rack with hearing aid batteries).

But he is wrong when he says replacing it would be a 100% guarantee that it would fix it. Messed up time can be related to a number of things. But give it a try. A new battery couldn't be any more than a few bucks at most. If it isn't the battery, it's probably something pysically wrong on your motherboard (blown cap perhaps).

 

[Boegy3]

Yeah, just goes to show you that teachers aren't always right.

Its very ironic that a friend of mine that I hardly talk to is having the exact same problem as I am having. It started about 2 days ago for him, right after he installed SP2. I actually installed it about a week ago, but the time could have been messed up since then. I wonder if that might have something to do with the problem.

Anyway, I'm gonna try to go and get another battery to see if that fixes it, only, what, five bucks anyway.

 

[Avg]

I think if it was the battery you would loss the date and it would reset to whatever is it's default date, that happens to a gigabyte board I have the battery is a bit loose and everytime I leave it of for a couple of days the date is back to january 01 03.

 

[Boegy3]

Okay, I've pretty much ruled out the battery by now becuase it only seems to be going faster now, it doesn't seem to be slowing down, and plus, like mentioned, it doesn't reset itself when I turn the computer off.

 

[Brundle Fly]

...un-install SP2 and see what happens. SP2 screwed my system, I couldn't burn anything after I installed it, even after un-installing, I couldn't burn. I formatted(this is a new HDD, like 2 months old), skipped SP2, and it burns like it always did...

...seems SP2 screws a few systems, but not all. You can lose it through Add/Remove Programs in the control panel...

 

[diggingforgold]

Here's a simple way to help illiminate the impossible (if you have the time to waste).

Start computer.
Press DEL key (or whatever it is for your mobo) to get into setup.
Go to whatever screen shows your computer time.
Adjust it to represent the actual current time.
Leave the room, watch TV, take a walk, do your homework, and come back a few hours later. Is the time correct?

If it's incorrect
RMA your motherboard. It's probably messed up.

If it's correct
Turn off your computer. Leave it off for a while. Turn it back on, but before XP loads, (DEL) boot to your setup screen. Check the time.

If it's still correct
Boot to windows, and do whatever you did before to recreate the messed up time. If it only messes up in Windows, we know what the problem is.

Point is to make your computer run and turn off your computer WITHOUT using Windows. We are trying to rule M$ out as a possible cause for your problem. So see if the problem only occurs when Windows can change the time. Then report back here with what you learned.

 

[Boegy3]

Okay, I left it running overnight in bios on the system clock page, and it was accurate in the morning! Oh yeah, at least I know my mobo isn't defective, lol. It seems to be a windows issue, but I got a new update with windows update after sp2, so I'll wait a while and see if it fixes things a little.

 

[Boegy3]

Okay, I think the problem is fixed, ever since a few hours past my last post, it hasn't been doing it anymore... Weird, but whatever, it's fixed, i'll keep you guys updated if I find out what the problem was.