Weird Clock Problems

[mr_pikachu]

Okay, so my Windows clock is acting up. For whatever reason, it occasionally sets itself to a time that's incorrect, though it's usually less than half an hour off the actual time.

There doesn't seem to be any particular pattern to whether the clock becomes fast or slow, and it seems to happen at random; I'll ignore the clock for awhile, then when I look at it the time is wrong. The stranger thing is that it usually resets itself to the correct time after awhile. That's what really baffles me.

I'm not sure if I should be worried about a virus or if this is fairly normal for older computers. (I believe I got this one in 2002.) This has been happening for awhile, though, even when my antivirus programs haven't detected anything.

So, what should I do about this, if anything? Any theories or recommedations?

[Lady Vulpix]

I don't think this will help much, but... either the hardware clock is malfunctioning, or some program is messing with it. When did this start happening?

[mr_pikachu]

It's been at least a few months. I'd guess half a year or so.

I perform virus scans all the time; I sometimes catch stuff, but usually nothing's detected. So either my programs just aren't catching the problem, or it's not a virus. Hard to say.

(If it helps, I use a combination of McAfee, Spybot, and Avast.)

[Lady Vulpix]

3 antivirus programs? Don't they interfere with each other?

Maybe it's the clock itself. How often does it hop?

[mr_pikachu]

Well, there doesn't seem to be much of a pattern... I'd guess that on average, it does this every week or two.

I've been late for a few classes because I trusted my computer clock. On the other hand, today I nearly freaked out because my compter said class was starting when it was still 20 minutes away.


EDIT: To answer your question about the programs, some of Avast's processes are disabled because they would have interfered with McAfee. On the other hand, I mainly use Spybot for manual scanning rather than constant protection, so it doesn't really clash with the other two.

[Lady Vulpix]

Hmm... Not often enough for the kind of tests I had in mind. But it does sound like a hardware problem to me.

[mr_pikachu]

Darn. Well, at least someone who knows more about computers than I do thinks it's not a program. That in itself is a little relieving.

Well, aside from my computer falling apart.

Anyway, what sort of tests did you have in mind? Even if it can't be done in this situation, I'm curious.

[Lady Vulpix]

Well, if it were something that happened everyday, you could try booting from a live CD for a day and seeing if it happened or not. If it did happen, then it would have to be a hardware problem because your OS and the usual programs wouldn't be running.

[Magmar]

I always thought the clock was battery-operated. Might wanna look into that but I could be (and probably am) wrong.

[kainashi]

I always thought the clock was battery-operated. Might wanna look into that but I could be (and probably am) wrong.

it is. usually when the clock is off by that much, it means the battery is getting old/dying/etc.

[mr_pikachu]

That was my first thought as well; I'm just puzzled as to how it resets itself if it's something like that. One would think it would only get worse.

Here's a thought. I know Windows has an automatic update feature... could the computer clock have something like that to reset the clock when it becomes inaccurate? Like an atomic clock that refers to a satellite?

Yeah, didn't think so.

[Lady Vulpix]

I seriously doubt it. It could ask the server the time when it updates itself, but I'm not sure if they'd do that... probably not.

[Kevin]

Double click the clock in your taskbar and click on the Internet Time tab. If the "Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server" is checked, then that's what is fixing your clock.

Otherwise, yeah it sounds like the CMOS battery is dying.

[mr_pikachu]

Huh. Yeah, that's how it's been getting reset. Thanks, Kevin.

Of course, there's still the issue of how the clock is getting disrupted, but that can be explained by a number of reasons that have already been mentioned.

Here's a further question. If the clock battery is the problem, could that affect any other processes (besides scheduled tasks)? I'm not sure exactly how the hardware pieces are connected with one another...

[Kevin]

A failing battery may cause system freezes or bios problems. It may also cause problems with anti-virus programs and windows update.

Edit: I've read that leaving your computer on for 24 hours may help recharge it. If not, then you may want to look into replacing it (it should only be a couple bucks.)

[mr_pikachu]

Does the 24-hour period entail not running any processes, or can you be actively doing things (like browsing the internet) in the meantime?

If you can use the computer during the recharge period, then that's a bad sign... the most recent time the clock reset, my computer had been on for a few days straight. So it would thusly appear that the recharge, if it is done in that manner, didn't help.