Clock sync

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Guest

My clock seems like it's never right! I have to internet sync everyday. How
can I set the clock to automatically do it everyday. It is set to sync only
once a week - but I've found out that I'm late to important meetings because
my clock is off.

What to do!!
 
Hi

You can alter the timing via the Registry:

Navigate to the following in the Registry:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient]

in the right hand pane double click on 'SpecialPollInterval' and change the
Decimal value to 86400. That is in seconds for 24 hours. You will need to
reboot your system for the change to take effect.

Please backup the Registry first. A good program to backup/restore the
Registry - is ERunt:

http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/index.htm
 
"Windows XP, as loaded, automatically updates the system time every 7 days
from one of two (default) time servers. This update interval can be changed
as follows:

Using regedit, search for "specialpollinterval" without the quotes.

You will see that the decimal value is 604800, the number of seconds in 7
days.

Edit this decimal value to any value you desire, remembering that there are
86400 seconds in one day, 3600 seconds in one hour.

Do this for each instance of the decimal value "specialpollinterval".

Exit regedit.

Reboot system.

Cheers!!!"


--

Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)
 
Doug said:
For a utility to do this for you, see www.dougknox.com, Win XP Utilities, Change Internet Time Update Interval
Click to expand...
Ok, all those suggestions miss one important point: if your clock is
never right, or in other words, always late, this means that the back-up
battery is failing. Next thing you know, your bios will lose their
settings each time you turn off the machine. Have this small battery
replaced or do it yourself if you know how.
 
Good point, John. But some people are just "perfectionists" when it comes to the system time.
 
Doug said:
Good point, John. But some people are just "perfectionists" when it comes to the system time.
Click to expand...
Doug,
I am one of them, believe me! But when the clock gets wrong to the point
you miss appointments as the OP stated, seems to me, this is not being
perfectionnist ... :). And for such perfectionnists, I suggest running
Atomtime (www.atomtime.com) which has an automatic mode. Can be loaded
with the "autoupdate" switch in Startup.
 
John said:
Doug,
I am one of them, believe me! But when the clock gets wrong to the point
you miss appointments as the OP stated, seems to me, this is not being
perfectionnist ... :). And for such perfectionnists, I suggest running
Atomtime (www.atomtime.com) which has an automatic mode. Can be loaded
with the "autoupdate" switch in Startup.
Click to expand...

You are right, its not being a perfectionist to expect an expensive
motherboard to keep time as well as a one dollar watch

is the microsoft time server no good?

--
Marko Jotic
"Common sense is anything but common".
From the notebooks of Lazarus Long. Robert A. Heinlein.
Handmade knives, antique designs, exotic materials at
http://www.knifeforging.com/
 
There's nothing wrong with the time servers. By default XP is set to update the time once every 7 days.

What is at issue is how your motherboard and the OS cooperate to keep the time up to date. Computers under continual, heavy use (lots of CPU load) can actually lose time, as they aren't able to update the system clock reliably. This is not as prevalent with newer, quality motherboards, but older/cheaper ones may exhibit this behavior.
 
Doug said:
There's nothing wrong with the time servers. By default XP is set to update the time once every 7 days.

What is at issue is how your motherboard and the OS cooperate to keep the time up to date. Computers under continual, heavy use (lots of CPU load) can actually lose time, as they aren't able to update the system clock reliably. This is not as prevalent with newer, quality motherboards, but older/cheaper ones may exhibit this behavior.
Click to expand...
I am not so sure you are correct, I have had cheap older motherboards
that kept time, and expensive ones that didn't

yes some boards try to keep time and computer use messes them up, others
keep time

--
Marko Jotic
"Common sense is anything but common".
From the notebooks of Lazarus Long. Robert A. Heinlein.
Handmade knives, antique designs, exotic materials at
http://www.knifeforging.com/
 
Doug said:
What is at issue is how your motherboard and the OS cooperate to keep the time up to date. Computers under continual, heavy use (lots of CPU load) can actually lose time, as they aren't able to update the system clock reliably. This is not as prevalent with newer, quality motherboards, but older/cheaper ones may exhibit this behavior.
Click to expand...

One aspect worth mentioning is that the 'clock' that generates the timer
interrupts that Windows uses is not the 'CMOS' (RTC) clock, but the
general system oscillator that runs the bus and CPU. This is not
calibrated as a time keeper. Provided the rate of timer interrupts is
not too far out, the time service will adjust its idea of the interval
when you sync and in due course the clock will run nearly correctly -
when you can put the sync interval back to a longer one. For this to be
effective you maybe need to do a sync say twice a day while running 24/7
for a few days.

But the idea it has of the interval may be way out; and this correction
will not work. This usually gives an enormous a steady rate of loss
like 10 minutes in an hour. In that case, try these steps:

1. Start->Run cmd.exe
2. net stop w32time
3. w32tm.exe /unregister
4. w32tm.exe /register
5. net start w32time

(note spellings w32tm and w32time in different commands)
 
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