Clock jumps back 1 hour

[RobHK]

Running XP Home with SP3 and automatic updates. In the UK: time zone
is GMT with 1-hour daylight-saving (British Summer Time). In Date and
Time Properties, Current Time Zone reads "GMT Daylight Time". Time
Zone is set to GMT and Automatically Adjust Clock for Daylight Saving
Changes is set. Automatically Synchronize is set, and the time server
is time.nist.gov.

The clock periodically jumps back 1 hour. It's hard to say exactly
when or how, because I only notice it after it's happened. If I then
manually synchronize with time.nist.gov, the clock returns to correct
British Summer Time.

A Linux installation on the same computer is not affected. Even if I
exit XP with the time incorrect and boot Linux, the time on Linux will
be correct, so the computer clock would appear not to be the cause.

It may be relevant that I recently (during Summer Time) re-installed
XP from a disk image made in January.

Any help appreciated.

 

[Unknown]

Try setting the time server to " tick.usno.navy.mil"

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Start here: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst

Also check-in at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com.

 

[John Wunderlich]

Running XP Home with SP3 and automatic updates. In the UK: time
zone is GMT with 1-hour daylight-saving (British Summer Time). In
Date and Time Properties, Current Time Zone reads "GMT Daylight
Time". Time Zone is set to GMT and Automatically Adjust Clock for
Daylight Saving Changes is set. Automatically Synchronize is set,
and the time server is time.nist.gov.

The clock periodically jumps back 1 hour. It's hard to say exactly
when or how, because I only notice it after it's happened. If I
then manually synchronize with time.nist.gov, the clock returns to
correct British Summer Time.

A Linux installation on the same computer is not affected. Even if
I exit XP with the time incorrect and boot Linux, the time on
Linux will be correct, so the computer clock would appear not to
be the cause.

It may be relevant that I recently (during Summer Time)
re-installed XP from a disk image made in January.

Any help appreciated.

When you "manually synchronize", how do you do this? With a 3rd party
application or by issuing a "w32tm /resync" command?

Sometimes Windows Time will synchronize to another machine on your
subnet or domain. If that machine is an hour off, yours soon will be
too. Some people add 3rd party time synchronizers to set the time via
NTP but this doesn't prevent Windows Time from synchronizing
occasionally on its own. You can try to force Windows Time to use an
external NTP source by bringing up a command window and entering the
following set of commands:
net time /setsntp:time.nist.gov (or whatever source)
w32tm /config /update
w32tm /resync /rediscover

Another suggestion is to examine the Event Log. When W32time changes
the clock by as much as an hour, there is usually an entry in the
System Log with details on which computer it synchronized to.

start->run->eventvwr.msc

HTH,
John

 

[LVTravel]

Running XP Home with SP3 and automatic updates. In the UK: time zone
is GMT with 1-hour daylight-saving (British Summer Time). In Date and
Time Properties, Current Time Zone reads "GMT Daylight Time". Time
Zone is set to GMT and Automatically Adjust Clock for Daylight Saving
Changes is set. Automatically Synchronize is set, and the time server
is time.nist.gov.

The clock periodically jumps back 1 hour. It's hard to say exactly
when or how, because I only notice it after it's happened. If I then
manually synchronize with time.nist.gov, the clock returns to correct
British Summer Time.

A Linux installation on the same computer is not affected. Even if I
exit XP with the time incorrect and boot Linux, the time on Linux will
be correct, so the computer clock would appear not to be the cause.

It may be relevant that I recently (during Summer Time) re-installed
XP from a disk image made in January.

Any help appreciated.

Reinstall all the Windows updates since you restored to a pre-updated
version. Should correct your issue.

 

[Unknown]

Read the first sentence of his post.

Reinstall all the Windows updates since you restored to a pre-updated
version. Should correct your issue.

 

[RobHK]

Reinstall all the Windows updates since you restored to a pre-updated
version. Should correct your issue.

How do I go about that? I'm running automatic updating.

 

[RobHK]

Thanks. I had a look and it seems like the problem will only last
during the 4-week transition periosd. If that's so I'll live withit.

 

[RobHK]

I don't think that will help. It synchronises fine with the current
server.

 

[RobHK]

When you "manually synchronize", how do you do this? With a 3rd party
application or by issuing a "w32tm /resync" command?

Sometimes Windows Time will synchronize to another machine on your
subnet or domain. If that machine is an hour off, yours soon will be
too. Some people add 3rd party time synchronizers to set the time via
NTP but this doesn't prevent Windows Time from synchronizing
occasionally on its own. You can try to force Windows Time to use an
external NTP source by bringing up a command window and entering the
following set of commands:
net time /setsntp:time.nist.gov (or whatever source)
w32tm /config /update
w32tm /resync /rediscover

Another suggestion is to examine the Event Log. When W32time changes
the clock by as much as an hour, there is usually an entry in the
System Log with details on which computer it synchronized to.

start->run->eventvwr.msc

HTH,
John

This is a standalone home PC. I synchronise automatically (or manually
when it goes adrift) through XP Date and Timer Properties.

But following the link given by PA Bear, it looks as if the issue will
go away in a couple of weeks. It's not a serious problem so I'll live
with it.