PC clock wrong - not updating

[Trevor]

XP Pro.

PC clock is out, not updating and grayed out. How do I get it to keep the
right time?

 

[M.I.5¾]

XP Pro.

PC clock is out, not updating and grayed out. How do I get it to keep the
right time?

Check the time server that is setting the clock. The format of most of the
original ones has changed so that XP no longer understands them.

Change to 'time-a.nist.gov'

 

[bojimbo26one]

XP Pro.

PC clock is out, not updating and grayed out. How do I get it to keep the
right time?

New battery ?

 

[Trevor]

New battery ?

I never realised they had one? Where?

 

[Ron Hardin]

Recently a couple old low-end Dell laptops of mine have started
losing a few seconds an hour, or gaining a few seconds an hour
(for the other), something cured by rebooting. So I gather
there's some software mistake in something new, but can't be
sure.

 

[smlunatick]

I never realised they had one? Where?

PCs does not have a true clock inside them. The CMOS/BIOS chips have
a section which is used to keep the date / time and this is usually
updated by itself. This is not a precise clock and can loose time.
If the clock is out by hours / days, then the CMOS battery is failing
and you need to replace it. Batteries are usuall a coin-cell type
battery that cost a couple of dollars.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

PCs does not have a true clock inside them. The CMOS/BIOS chips have
a section which is used to keep the date / time and this is usually
updated by itself. This is not a precise clock and can loose time.
If the clock is out by hours / days, then the CMOS battery is failing
and you need to replace it. Batteries are usuall a coin-cell type
battery that cost a couple of dollars.

This is not necessarily correct, and is very misleading. 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* almost certainly 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.

 

[Trevor]

This is not necessarily correct, and is very misleading. 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* almost certainly 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.

So when mine was 5 mins fast when running it wasn't updating?


The greyed out date and time properties>internet toime has suddenly stopped
being greyed out but when I hit update now I get a message 'An error occured
getting the status of the last synchonisation. An unexpected network error
occured.'

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

So when mine was 5 mins fast when running it wasn't updating?


The greyed out date and time properties>internet toime has suddenly stopped
being greyed out but when I hit update now I get a message 'An error occured
getting the status of the last synchonisation. An unexpected network error
occured.'

That's clearly not a battery problem. I'm not sure what's causing it,
but you might want to try a different time server, such as

tick.usno.navy.mil or
tock.usno.navy.mil

 

[Trevor]

That's clearly not a battery problem. I'm not sure what's causing it,
but you might want to try a different time server, such as

tick.usno.navy.mil or
tock.usno.navy.mil

Get same message.

 

[Unknown]

Wait a while and try again using the military site.