Computer clock question

[Ed_L]

I thought I'd post on this forum since I wasn't sure just where this one belonged. My computer is 5 months old, and I've had a problem with the clock keeping time since I've had it. If I set the clock, it might lose 2 hours or so in a period of one day. Is this a problem with the battery? If so, are there any special procedures to follow when changing a battery? It seems to me that I once heard it could cause problems of some sort if you didn't follow proper procedures. I'm off to bed. Goodnight all.

Ed

[DJ Dubovsky]

Mine did the same thing and David figured it out. I believe it had something to do with the time zone that it was set for. Each time I turned it back on the time would automatically readjust itself to the time zone it was set for no matter how many times I reset the clock. Check the time zone by right clicking on the clock at the bottom of the screen and choose adjust Date and Time. In the Date and Time just below the calandar see if you have the time zone set correctly. Mine is set to Eastern Daylight Time. Yours might be central. If it's incorrect the click on the Time Zone tab and select your time zone in the drop down list. I believe that is what he did since I think the factory set their time zone prior to shipping.
DJ

[jeaniesa]

Sorry Ed, but I don't know. I'd like to know the answer though as my clock has been losing about 5 minutes per week. (Come to think of it, with the new mainboard I haven't noticed it, so perhaps I won't have to deal with that problem any more! )
Jeanie

[Sanda]

I had a similar problem with my Gateway last year. Mine was losing a few miniutes each hour they finally fixed it by sending me a disk to upgrade the Bios. Now it's working perfectly. I don't know if it's the same problem you are having but that was mine.

[G. Couch]

Ed - If all else fails and you do suspect the battery, you need to write down ALL of your BIOS settings before removing the battery. To do that, you will need to access the BIOS setup when your PC boots up (usually achieved by hitting F1 at startup...or is it DELETE?...can't remember!). When done, pull the battery and replace with a new one. You will need to reenter your BIOS info when you reboot.

Your manual might have instructions as well.

[jeaniesa]

Greg (& Ed), I think most computers use DELETE to enter the BIOS setup, but some may use different keys. There's usually a message at the bottom of the screen telling you which key to hit to enter setup.
Jeanie

[chris h]

If you go the battery route Ed use an anti static band just in case. I never used to bother until I killed a hard drive.

[T Paul]

Ed,

Here is another angle to your lost time dilemma. I had a similar problem, but mine would jump to the future such as changing the time and the date randomly. One day I was in the year 2010. XP has this item called internet time and automatically checks the box synchronize time with net time server, and this is what was causing my problem. I unchecked the box, and so far my computer has kept accurate time as well as stayed in the current year.

To uncheck the box, double click your clock at the bottom right of your screen. You should see three tabs, click on the INTERNET TIME tab. Now make sure the box for AUTOMATICALLY SYNCHRONIZE WITH AN INTERNET TIME SERVER in unchecked. However, if you are regularly losing a set amount of time it sounds more like your battery.

Good Luck!

-T

[Ed_L]

Wow. Thanks for all the replies. I'll check the time zone, which I'm pretty sure is correct already. Then I'll uncheck the internet sync box, as this is checked. Anything much more than that, and I'll call Dell. It's under warranty. Thanks again for the help.

Ed

[d_kendal]

I had problems with XP changing the year on me too, I'd log in and I'd get an error message about the year, and when I checked it would say 1901 for some reason. still not sure what caused that problem, but when I reloaded XP after a couple months I never had any problems.

- David

[Ed_L]

Update...I checked the time zone. It was okay. I unchecked the internet sync box. Reset clock 10 hours ago. My clock is now 1 hour and 56 min. behind! I'm gonna give Dell a call.

Ed

[chiquitita]

My Dell is also 5 months old - and I had the same problem when I got it. It seemed to have straightened itself out after I unchecked the internet box, but I did it and undid it several times before the clock finally behaved. Possibly you have to reboot your computer? Or maybe there is some order in which you have to reboot, uncheck and reboot again? I wish I knew what I did to finally get it to work.

[Ed_L]

Thanks for the tip. I haven't contacted Dell as yet to actually talk to somebody. I did fill out a request for assistance, and I received an automated response with things to try before contacting a person. One of the things said that if you turn the computer off, when you restart it, it should have the correct time unless there is a problem with the CMOS battery. At least that's what I think it said, but since I have no idea what that is, it doesn't mean a lot to me. I just haven't pursued the fix for the problem yet.

Ed

[chiquitita]

Yea, I remember dealing some with that particular problem, however I can't begin to tell you how to fix it. It's best to call Dell in the middle of the night in order to actually get a person in under 30 minutes. I have a friend that works there, and I will ask, but I am not sure she would know that particular problem. It's worth a try.

[chiquitita]

Here is a knowledge base article for that particular problem:
Dell Article