-
Losing Time
Help! The last two days, my computer started
loosing an average of 7 to 8 minutes per
hour. Can this be telling me that my system
battery is getting weak and needs replaced.
Also my computer has begun to react very
sluggish. I have a P166 w/80MB of ram. I have
a 13.6 gig hard drive partitioned in two
drives...c and d. I have only used 3.45gig of
the 7.13gig on C drive and only 488MB of the
7.13 gig on D drive. I am running Win98. I have not reconfigured anything different the past two days and it was running fine before that. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
------------------
conquest484
can be reached at
[email protected]
-
-
Thanks D.Angel,
I will check the battery out with the meter and see what it reads. My machine is about 2.5 years old so I'm almost certain it is going to dye soon. :-(
-
Why does my computer lose time or not properly update its clock, and how do I correct this problem?
It is recommended that you print this article for reference before beginning to troubleshoot a timekeeping problem, as many of the troubleshooting steps involve rebooting your computer.
A computer actually maintains three separate clocks:
The Real Time Clock (RTC), located on the system board and powered by the CMOS battery such that it should be consistently updated even if the system is not receiving AC power.
The CMOS clock, which is a logical clock stored in the BIOS chip on the system board. Its settings are maintained (but not updated) in non-volatile RAM while the system is powered off.
The Operating System (OS) clock, which is a logical clock stored in system memory and is cleared each time the system is powered off or rebooted.
When a computer is powered on, the CMOS clock synchronizes with the RTC during the POST (Power On Self Test) operation. When the operating system boots, it reads the current time from the CMOS clock and maintains its own, essentially independent, OS clock. The OS clock does not synchronize again with the CMOS clock unless the OS clock is manually changed (at which time both the CMOS clock and RTC are set to the time stored in the OS clock), or the system is rebooted. Therefore, the OS clock may hold an incorrect time if running tasks slow down the operating system scheduler, while the CMOS clock and RTC continue to maintain the correct time.
Note that when troubleshooting system time problems, it is important to have a reliable reference time source for comparison. A good example is a local phone service for Time and Temperature. Whichever reference source you use, you should verify the current time each whenever determining whether your computer's clock is correct. Also keep in mind that minor variations from the correct time (for example, several seconds each day) are normal, as a personal computer is a general-purpose computing device rather than a dedicated timekeeping machine.
The first step in distinguishing between a hardware or software root cause of this symptom, is to determine whether the system fails to update the clock correctly while the system is powered on, or fails to maintain time while powered off. If the computer maintains time correctly when powered on, but the clock is not properly updated when powered off, skip to the section entitled Hardware Troubleshooting. If the time loss occurs while the system is powered on, or you are unsure whether the clock fails to update correctly when the system is powered on or off, proceed to the following section entitled Software Troubleshooting.
Software Troubleshooting:
Note: The following steps assume that the installed operating system is Microsoft® Windows® 98, but a similar approach could be used to troubleshoot timekeeping problems in other operating systems.
If the clock regularly falls behind the correct time after the computer has been running Windows for an extended period of time; the simplest way to confirm that the software configuration is the cause of the timekeeping problem is as follows:
Set the correct time in the Windows clock. You may open "Time/Date Properties" by double-clicking on the "Clock" in the Windows taskbar, or by clicking on START | SETTINGS | CONTROL PANEL and double-clicking on the "Date/Time" icon. Type the correct time in the digital display.
Allow the system to run in Windows for 5 minutes or longer.
Restart the computer.
If the time in Windows returns to the correct time, then the problem is most likely due to software, as the OS clock synchronized with the correct time stored in the CMOS clock at boot time.
Note that if the time in Windows is still significantly different from the correct current time, the cause is still likely to be the software configuration. If your system is connected to a network, its clock may be synchronized with another computer on the network (called a Time Server, which itself may be at variance with the correct current time). This can be accomplished with a line in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file (such as NET TIME), a logon script, or an installed service. Consult your network administrator to determine if this is the case.
Next, it is important to determine if running applications or device drivers cause the loss of time, or if the operating system is incorrectly configured. To determine which, perform the following:
Reboot the system into "Safe Mode" by pressing the [F8] key immediately after the single POST beep, then select "Safe Mode" from the "Windows Startup Menu."
When in "Safe Mode," set the correct time using the procedure noted above.
Allow the system to run unattended for as long as it would generally take for time loss to occur if the system were running in Windows normal mode. If the clock remains correct, skip the following steps.
If the clock varies significantly from the correct current time, it will be necessary to test the operating system in DOS mode. To do so, restart the computer and press the [F8] key immediately after the single POST beep. Select "Safe Mode Command Prompt Only" from the "Windows Startup Menu."
At the "C:\>" prompt type the following:
time[ENTER]
where [ENTER] is to press the Enter key on the keyboard.
At the "Enter new time:" prompt, enter the current time.
Allow the system to run unattended for as long as it would generally take for time loss to occur if the system were running in Windows normal mode.
At the "C:\>" prompt type the following:
time[ENTER]
where [ENTER] is to press the Enter key on the keyboard.
If the clock is correct, yet the system lost time while in Windows Safe Mode, then the operating system may need to be reinstalled. If the clock is incorrect, skip to the section entitled Hardware Troubleshooting.
At this point, we have determined that the cause of the time loss is likely to be installed device drivers or applications running while in Windows. To determine the source of the problem, it is necessary to minimize the startup environment and test the ability of the OS clock to maintain the correct time. To do so, perform the following:
Click on START | RUN. In the "Open" box, type the following:
msconfig
and click on "OK."
On the "General" tab of the "System Configuration Utility," remove the checks next to each item and then click on "OK." When prompted to restart, click on "Yes."
Allow the system to run unattended for as long as it would generally take for time loss to occur. If the clock maintains the correct time, run "MSCONFIG" again and place a check next to one of the startup items, but leave "Load Startup Group Items" unchecked. Repeat the test until all startup items are checked except "Load Startup Group Items."
Click on the "Startup" tab and place a check next to the first half of the items on the list. Repeat the test to determine if the Windows clock begins losing time again. Return to "MSCONFIG" and select additional items if the clock continued to maintain time correctly, or uncheck items if the clock began to lose time. It should be possible to identify a single application or line in a configuration file that is causing the time loss. Either leave that line unchecked, reinstall the associated application, or contact the application vendor for further assistance.
Hardware Troubleshooting:
To determine whether a hardware problem may be the source of the system's inability to maintain the correct time, perform the following:
Reboot the computer and enter the CMOS setup. If you have a Dell Dimension system, press the [Delete] key shortly after reboot while the system is counting memory or displaying the Dell Logo. If you have a Dell Optiplex system, or a 486, or earlier computer, press the [CTRL], [ALT] and [ENTER] keys simultaneously during POST to enter CMOS setup.
Insert a write-protected, virus free, bootable diskette into the floppy drive, such that when the system reboots it will not boot to the hard drive. The Dell Diagnostics diskette would be a suitable diskette to use.
Set the correct time in CMOS setup, save settings and exit. On some systems this may be accomplished by pressing [F10] and then [ENTER], on others by pressing the [ALT] and [B] keys.
When the system has finished booting to the floppy disk, turn the power off to the computer, ideally for a period of at least 8 hours to allow for a noticeable loss of time.
Power the computer back on and enter CMOS setup (do not allow the system to boot to either a floppy disk or hard drive first).
If the clock maintained the correct time, the RTC and CMOS clocks are functioning properly. Return to the section above entitled Software Troubleshooting or contact Dell technical support for additional assistance. If the clock is significantly behind the current time, the problem is most likely due to the hardware configuration. To isolate the source of the problem, perform the following:
Remove all expansion cards except video, to avoid corruption due to option ROMs.
Disconnect drive data and power cables from the motherboard.
Remove all external devices except the keyboard and display.
Reset CMOS to defaults, jumper to Maintenance Mode (on applicable systems) and/or clear NVRAM. For information on how to do so, look for system-specific technical information at http://support.dell.com. Enter your service tag and click on Your System Documentation.
Flash the system BIOS to the current revision.
Write-protect the Dell Diagnostics diskette, insert it into the floppy drive, and reboot the computer. At the "Diagnostics" menu, use the [up] or [down] arrow keys on the keyboard to select "Run Specific Tests" and press [Enter]. Highlight "System Set" in the "Available Test Groups" column. Press the [S] key to select "Subtest" on the menu at the bottom of the screen. Highlight "CMOS Confidence Test" and press the [Space Bar]. An arrow will appear next to "CMOS Confidence Test" indicating that it is selected. Highlight "Real-Time Clock Test" and press the [Space Bar] to select it. Press the [R] key to access the "Run" menu, then press the [L] key to run selected tests. If both tests pass, the RTC and CMOS clocks are functioning properly.
Repeat the test above.
If the clock in CMOS setup continues to fail to update the time while the system is powered off, there may be a problem with the CMOS battery or the system board. Typically, if the CMOS battery is entirely dead, the CMOS clock will reset both the time and date to a specific default each time the computer is left powered off for a period of time. However, the system may simply fail to update the clock while powered off, if the CMOS battery is low on power but not entirely dead. hope this helps.
-
Thanks! Dude,
I tried the first step on the list...resetting the time in Windows,waiting 5 minutes,then shutting down,waiting an hour,then rebooting. My time remained correct. It has been about 12 hours now that I have been running steady with no loss of time. So I guess it may have been a glitch in the software. Also, my machine has stopped being sluggish. I often reboot to solve hang-ups along with other problems but I had never had a time loss problem so I did not think of it. Thanks, so much. Peggy
------------------
conquest484
can be reached at
[email protected]
