Time Server Errors

[bomberer4]

System: Windows XP 2

I'm getting a time service error comming out of standby:

"The time service has not been able to synchronize the system time for
49152 seconds because none of the time providers has been able to
provide a usable time stamp. The system clock is unsynchronized."

The error links to a Microsoft knowlegebase article which says the
issue is resolved in XP SP2. I have found some discussion in these
groups on the subject including a statment that the issue seemed to
_start_ with SP2.

Anyone have ideas on this thing?

Thanks,

T.

 

[David E. Ross]

System: Windows XP 2

I'm getting a time service error comming out of standby:

"The time service has not been able to synchronize the system time for
49152 seconds because none of the time providers has been able to
provide a usable time stamp. The system clock is unsynchronized."

The error links to a Microsoft knowlegebase article which says the
issue is resolved in XP SP2. I have found some discussion in these
groups on the subject including a statment that the issue seemed to
_start_ with SP2.

Anyone have ideas on this thing?

Thanks,

T.

What are you using as a NTP client? Or are you using the built-in
client in Windows XP?

If the latter, I don't think <time.windows.com> is running. It did not
respond to a query from a utility I sometime use. Switch to
<time.nist.gov>. Note that the built-in client has only two NTP
servers, which you must manually select. (You can add servers by
editing the registry key
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DateTime\Servers].)

I use a purchased client, SocketWatch from RoboMagic Software at
<http://www.locutuscodeware.com/>. SocketWatch starts with a list of
about 100 NTP servers (in an editable ASCII .dat file). The list is
ordered according to an obscure scoring system, with the best at the top
and the worst at the bottom. It queries the top servers at a time
(querying a number that is user-settable). The queried servers are
rescored; the server with the best score is used to set your PC clock.
A server that does not respond gets a very bad score. After all queried
servers are scored, the entire list is resorted.

I set SocketWatch to synchronize my PC clock every hour while I'm
connected to the Internet, querying 5 servers. Currently, the top 5
servers are:
<otc1.psu.edu> (used for my latest synchronization)
<ntp2d.mcc.ac.uk>
<ntp2c.mcc.ac.uk>
<time.kfki.hu>
<ntp1.mmo.netnod.se>

--

David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

Concerned about someone (e.g., Pres. Bush) snooping
into your E-mail? Use PGP.
See my <http://www.rossde.com/PGP/>

 

[bomberer4]

Thanks for the info David.

I'm using the built in time service. I'll try the other time service
and see what happens.

I originally tried setting it to my local UNIX NTP server, which my
UNIX and Mac boxes use, and got errors that WindowsXP couldn't sync to
it. Never could figure out why.

T.