slow clock help

J

JS

Greetings,
Since I can't seem to figure out why my clock is losing a couple of hours
per day, is there a way I use the "scheduled tasks" to update my clock every
couple of hours?
Thanks,
Jim
 
S

Shenan Stanley

JS said:
Since I can't seem to figure out why my clock is losing a couple
of hours per day, is there a way I use the "scheduled tasks" to
update my clock every couple of hours?
Click to expand...
It's time to replace the battery on your PC's motherboard.
Click to expand...

Not if the clock is losing time WHILE the computer is on.

Start Menu -> Control Panel -> Date and Time, and click the "Internet Time"
tab on the Date and Time window.
Click "Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server" and you may
want to change to a different time server - there are many free ones out
there.

http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/WebHome

There may even be a patch for your particular computer manufacturer - check
on their web page/support and FAQs area for your model.
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

It's time to replace the battery on your PC's motherboard.
Click to expand...


Before anyone whose clock is running slow rushes out to buy a new
battery, he should first take note of whether he is losing time while
the computer is running or while it's powered off. If it's while
powered off, the problem *is* very likely the battery. But if it's
while running, it can *not* be the battery, because the battery isn't
used while the computer is running.

If the clock loses time while running, try this:

Open a command prompt window (Start | Run | cmd) and enter the
following commands:

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

JS

It seems like I have tried this before, but I will try again and report
back. It *is* losing time while on.
Thanks,
Jim
 
G

Gary S. Terhune

What you want is a command line to update the clock? I imagine there is a
way, I just don't know it. I could do it with a sloppy script, using
SendKeys, but such scripts are unreliable, since any other keystroke that
occurs while the script is running causes it to fail.

Of course, the other problem is that which is being encountered so much by
so many, recently: The internet time servers are for some reason not
cooperating with XP's update mechanism (or probably, vice versa.) One I know
that usually works is tick.usno.navy.mil

As noted, if the clock loses time primarily when the machine is turned off,
the issue is the BIOS battery (a small coin-sized battery on the
motherboard. Otherwise, I'd want to identify the background app that's
causing the clock to lose time so quickly. This issue was common in Win9x
systems, but much less so in XP systems. I'd use MSCONFIG to methodically
disable background apps one at a time until the clock behaves. But I'd first
use MSINFO32, copy out the info under Software Environment>Startup Programs
and post the list here for comment. Once the app is identified, perhaps it
can be done away with, replaced with some other app, updated, etc.
 
J

JS

I do use the tick.usno.navy.mil to manually update, and it works ok, but
the clock loses so much time during the day, I was wanting something
automatic, a little more often, at least until I can get to the bottom of
the original problem.
Jim
 
C

Chet

JS said:
Greetings,
Since I can't seem to figure out why my clock is losing a
couple of hours per day, is there a way I use the "scheduled
tasks" to update my clock every couple of hours?
Thanks,
Jim
Click to expand...
Once you have your problem solved, you may want to try Doug
Knox's Change Internet Time Sync at
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/InternetTime.zip

It allows you to set the frequency of updates, i.e., weekly,
daily, hourly or a custom setting.

HTH

Chet
 
G

glee

Hey Gary,

Why pay, when the Dimension 4 utility I linked, or Doug Knox' Time Sync Interval
Changer, will do the job for free? ;-)
 
G

Gary S. Terhune

No good reason at all. Didn't know about those others until after I'd
posted, ;-p
 

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