OT: System Clock Loses Hour

Fyron · #1 April 6th, 2007, 04:10 AM

I've got a winXP box that loses an hour consistently from its system clock. It is basically setting itself an hour earlier than what the real time is, some time after I fix it. I've fiddled with DST settings and such, but every combination still results in losing an hour after I adjust it. The machine has also now lost the ability to sync with time.windows.com or nist.time.gov, in spite of taking efforts to reset and reinitialize w32time service. I even tried disabling the "Windows Time Service" entirely, but it still sets it back an hour.

I thought it might have been a bug with the recent DST update, but the problem persists after uninstalling it.

I don't think this is a CMOS battery issue, because the time is not randomly losing minutes. It also does not lose multiple extra hours; it only sets it back an hour before the real time.

Has anyone encountered this before? Any idea on how to resolve it, short of reinstalling windohs?

For reference, I have attached a dump of the w32time registry settings.

se5a · #2 April 6th, 2007, 05:12 AM

set it an hour forward so when it looses an hour it will be right?

might be an interesting test to see if it looses one hour or two.

Atrocities · #3 April 6th, 2007, 05:17 AM

I am having the same problem fyron. On all my XP machines

douglas · #4 April 6th, 2007, 05:53 AM

Somewhere in the menu brought up by double-clicking on the system clock is a simple checkbox for synchronizing the clock through the internet. Either uncheck this box or change your time zone setting.

Fyron · #5 April 6th, 2007, 01:58 PM

I'll try setting it an hour ahead, but I have my doubts...

douglas said:
Somewhere in the menu brought up by double-clicking on the system clock is a simple checkbox for synchronizing the clock through the internet. Either uncheck this box or change your time zone setting.

As I said in the OP, I have already tried every combination of those settings, and the system can no longer synchronize with Internet time... This is not an issue of how to use the system, it is a bug that has cropped up for which I am trying to find a solution. Also, that isn't really a solution anyways, because it will only perform the sync once a week. Even when the box was still able to do that sync, the clock would still get set back an hour, about an hour later. I wrote a little script a week ago to manually perform the sync (w32tm /resync) once an hour, which worked to fix the clock, but the time service is no longer able to sync even manually on the command prompt.

PvK · #6 April 6th, 2007, 02:17 PM

It sounds like it's the Daylight Savings Time bug.

This year, various places (including most or all of the USA) changed the date when Daylight Savings Time went into effect. Microsoft Windows requires an update, or it will follow the old schedule and get mixed up, etc. It's especially nice since many networked computers rely on a time server, and will thus systematically re-set to the wrong time; and some M$ network software reportedly requires clocks to be in sync in order to authenticate

. Win 2003 and Win XP SP2 should patch it if you go to the Microsoft Update web page and run their software (especially if you have their insulting "Genuine Advantage Genuinization Tool" or whatever-the-frack they call it). Earlier Windohs sufferers (including Win2K, and XP SP1 it appears) need to manually install a patch, which does exist but isn't the easiest thing to find...

As for why the frick Microsoft Windohs won't even let you set your own system clock manually and have it not be a problem, well, I'd chalk that up to typical M$ over-engineered "we know what you want - here, let us jam it down your throats" design.

PvK

Captain Kwok · #7 April 6th, 2007, 03:27 PM

Yeah, that bug is affecting some of my co-workers. Their e-mails are constantly being sent 1 hour in the past.

Renegade 13 · #8 April 6th, 2007, 06:51 PM

I have that exact same problem on my computer as well...I just readjust the clock and then ignore it, since once the "normal" DST time comes around, it'll fix itself I'm sure

Fyron · #9 April 6th, 2007, 07:35 PM

Yeah, this didn't start until after I installed the DST patch. It doesn't matter if I turn off the DST updating, it still sets back an hour. I even uninstalled the DST patch, but no dice.

Setting it 2 hours ahead didn't matter.

I think I'll try living in Arizona for a while... see if that helps. hehe

Fyron · #10 April 6th, 2007, 07:58 PM

Arizona time zone didn't help.