clock problem

[Michael Brooks]

I'm curious whether people in this group think the following is a hardware
problem or a Windows software problem, and whether I need to be concerned
(given that time-sync freeware is now correcting the clock). I'm running a
Win 2K professional machine not on a network, but connected to the internet.

The clock has always been slightly erratic, but recently started losing like
crazy.

(1) The CMOS battery tests out ok at 3.05v--an engineering friend assures me
that's not the problem (and the battery and board are only 2 years old). He
thinks it might be the real-time clock on the board.
(2) I got a nice freeware utility which is checking every 10 minutes, and
also recording the errors.
(a) overnight, when the computer is turned off, it loses only about 20 ms
per hour (or sometimes it gains).
(b) but when in use, every 10 minutes it looses anywhere from 1 ms up to
15 seconds. I'm not sure if there is any relationship with the amount of
computer activity during that period or not.

Thanks for any insights.

 

[Bob I]

Probably some software you are running. It WON'T be the battery as the
time is correct at start up and the battery is what runs the clock when
the system is off. So you need to figure out what's messing with the
timer ticks. "DOS" programs are prime suspects. Also a good search at
google may shed some light.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=system+clock+losing+time+windows+2000&btnG=Search