pc clock

Zone8 said:

Zone8 said:

ADMint wrote: You are completely and utterly wrong if you think your software solution solves an incorrect BIOS Time. Sorry, you'd be arguing a provable losing argument with me on this one.

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I think you have misunderstood my response. I gave a perfectly reasonable solution to keeping the time when the OP is using Windows. In that sense, the time in the BIOS becomes irrelevant. Whilst I agree a replacement battery on the motherboard may cure the BIOS time problems (but he would have other problems if that was the actual situation, meaning the BIOS settings would need re-setting at every startup) using the utility mentioned would keep his working Windows time accurate. The OP didn't (as far as I can recall) mention other problems that could be due the BIOS settings not being held in a saved format.

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If the other BIOS default settings are functional enough for the OP's use, he might not realize that the BIOS was unable to keep its settings.

OP, please replace the battery and end the suspense.

Austinian said:

If the other BIOS default settings are functional enough for the OP's use, he might not realize that the BIOS was unable to keep its settings.

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For clarity, this is pretty much an all or nothing function here - once the battery goes dead, all BIOS settings are reset to a default state, not just some.

On of the biggest indicators a CMOS battery is going bad or dead is an incorrect date and time every time the PC boots from a powered off state. The other indicator would be issues where you need to boot to the BIOS to constantly redo basic settings.

See this - How to Know when Your Computer Battery is Dead

ADMint said:

Austinian said:

If the other BIOS default settings are functional enough for the OP's use, he might not realize that the BIOS was unable to keep its settings.

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For clarity, this is pretty much an all or nothing function here - once the battery goes dead, all BIOS settings are reset to a default state, not just some.

On of the biggest indicators a CMOS battery is going bad or dead is an incorrect date and time every time the PC boots from a powered off state. The other indicator would be issues where you need to boot to the BIOS to constantly redo basic settings.

See this - How to Know when Your Computer Battery is Dead

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If there was an error message when the PC boots, the OP would probably have mentioned it. Since we're only hearing about a clock problem, he may not be seeing such a message at boot; the PC might be (more or less) happily going about its business.

I await more info from the OP. The current situation is "insufficient data", as Asimov repeated in a famous early computer story.

Austinian said:

ADMint said:

Austinian said:

If the other BIOS default settings are functional enough for the OP's use, he might not realize that the BIOS was unable to keep its settings.

Click to expand...

For clarity, this is pretty much an all or nothing function here - once the battery goes dead, all BIOS settings are reset to a default state, not just some.

On of the biggest indicators a CMOS battery is going bad or dead is an incorrect date and time every time the PC boots from a powered off state. The other indicator would be issues where you need to boot to the BIOS to constantly redo basic settings.

See this - How to Know when Your Computer Battery is Dead

Click to expand...

If there was an error message when the PC boots, the OP would probably have mentioned it. Since we're only hearing about a clock problem, he may not be seeing such a message at boot; the PC might be (more or less) happily going about its business.

I await more info from the OP. The current situation is "insufficient data", as Asimov repeated in a famous early computer story.

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Let me correct myself with the all or nothing comment...

Yes, if the battery is slowly dying things might happen slowly and the incorrect time would be one indicator is going but not dead. Not an all or nothing occurrence.

So yes in your scenario you'd be right.

And I'm not stuck on the CMOS battery, I'm just clarifying the talk. As you say, we await more info

BTW what Asimov story was that?

ADMint said:

BTW what Asimov story was that?

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"The Last Question"

Excellent, one of his best IMO.

Austinian said:

ADMint said:

BTW what Asimov story was that?

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"The Last Question"

Excellent, one of his best IMO.

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Thanks. I know who is (was) I just never read any of his books. I'll have to look that up.

Thanks.

--
The obsession is in the chasing and not the apprehension.

ADMint said:

Austinian said:

ADMint said:

BTW what Asimov story was that?

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"The Last Question"

Excellent, one of his best IMO.

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Thanks. I know who is (was) I just never read any of his books. I'll have to look that up.

Thanks.

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You're welcome. Asimov wrote a lot of great SF books, and many hard-science books too; quite an impressive person.

Oh, and I'm not suggesting the CMOS battery isn't at fault; in fact, I'd say it's the prime suspect at this point. Only if a new battery fails to fix the OP's problem would I start looking elsewhere, and it's a very easy test for the OP to do.

Billiam29 said:

So you consider installing an additional piece of software that duplicates functionality the Windows OS has contained since Win 7 a perfectly reasonably solution?

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...then why there are various online solutions offered to help us in gaining a perfect synchronization? (on several of my PCs - all win7 - the clock is always either slightly ahead or slightly back )

Btw. a very good demonstration of the effect might be perhaps through this web service: http://time.is

jpr2

jpr2 said:

Billiam29 said:

So you consider installing an additional piece of software that duplicates functionality the Windows OS has contained since Win 7 a perfectly reasonably solution?

Click to expand...

...then why there are various online solutions offered to help us in gaining a perfect synchronization? (on several of my PCs - all win7 - the clock is always either slightly ahead or slightly back )

Btw. a very good demonstration of the effect might be perhaps through this web service: http://time.is

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I can't speak for older Windows, but I just had a look at the clock on my Windows 10 PC, and it's less than 2 seconds different from my radio-controlled watch set, I think, from NIST's transmitter. That's certainly adequate for my needs.

jpr2 said:

Billiam29 said:

So you consider installing an additional piece of software that duplicates functionality the Windows OS has contained since Win 7 a perfectly reasonably solution?

Click to expand...

...then why there are various online solutions offered to help us in gaining a perfect synchronization? (on several of my PCs - all win7 - the clock is always either slightly ahead or slightly back )

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Because there's always someone peddling "a better product for Windows" in search of making a name for themselves. Honestly these programs do no better than some of the native apps on Windows. They just make things easy for the lazy at heart.

The other reason is since nothing is perfect others try offering the perfect solution.

ADMint said:

1Dx4me said:

Tom_N said:

It sounds like you might have a run-down clock battery. At least, that's what you should check first before assuming that the problem is something worse.

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yes, Tom, it just dawned on me when you mentioned it :-D i hope the battery is the culprit, i'll do it tomorrow, thank you so much.

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The "clock" battery would be the CMOS battery for the BIOS. If that battery is dead or dying it will cause the clock issues you have. It is a coin type battery, usually a CR2032.

Anyway removing / changing this battery will clear the BIOS. However, the BIOS can be set back to factory defaults by finding something in the BIOS called "Load Optimized Defaults. Click and enable and your BIOS should be set. Oh, and you'll need to set both time and date there.

--
The obsession is in the chasing and not the apprehension.

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yes indeed, that was the issue. i took the flat (quarter size) battery out, noticed the housing for the battery was kind of loose so i adjusted it to hold the battery rather tight (firmer) and replaced the battery with a fresh one! the problem i ran into was that my keyboard/mouse would not work when i rebooted my pc, i assume because they are wireless and USB! so i pulled an older IBM keyboard that i had and plugged it in the old fashion way-sure as heck, it worked ;-) the old mouse didn't work but i was ok with working around the keyboard! so i set the time/date and ASUSE optimized operation, saved the setup and checked out. i made a final time setting (a few minutes) and let my desktop sit and running for 10hrs, everything looks good so far!

i thank everyone who posted useful suggestions and i hope those helpful suggestions may help others that maybe in my situation in the future! thanks again and all the best!

syd

Patco said:

Billiam29 said:

You don't need a third party utility to sync Windows' time with an external server. This functionality is built into Windows itself. In Win 10 it can be found in Date and Time Control Panel -> Internet Time -> Change Settings button. Win 8.1 is the same. I don't recall the situation with Win 7.

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I just checked a Win 7 computer, and it's pretty much the same.
It's been a long time since I used a 3rd party time synchronizer - maybe Win 98 or earlier?

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Way back, I believe that there was a synchroniser that offered to monitor your clock for a set period and then apply a regular correction thereafter. Sad thing was that while the user was distracted by the cleverness of this utility, spyware was installed.

Note that a wildly incorrect date/time setting can disable some programs.

BIOS batteries are pretty good; I can only remember having to replace a handful of them in 30 years or so. Some were soldered in.