[RogerDa]

Has anybody come across Vista losing time. Dell have replaced the motherboard (Dell Inspiron 1501) but too no avail, updated bios to the lastest.
Just with Vista Home Premium loaded and going into screen saver it can lose 5 to 7 seconds an hour. Never came across this with XP.

[chilkotardis]

You mean like the clock drifts off the time? or that after you restart the computer doesnt remember the time?

[RogerDa]

It drifts off time.

[barry1of4]

I have Compaq Presario laptop with the same problem. I would also like to know how to fix it. It's beginning to sound like a software issue if it occurs on different hardware.
I have:
Compaq Presario V2606CU laptop with an AMD Mobile Sempron 3000+ processor, 1.5 GB RAM, and Windows Vista Home Premium.

[Adrift]

Usually has to do with a dying CMOS battery. You can find a watch battery replacement at any RadioShack. Harder to get to in a laptop though.

[RogerDa]

I have changed laptops, I now have a laptop with a Intel processor and not a AMD. This now seems to have helped to a degree, but still loses time. I think it is a Vista problem.

[august41]

I am having the same problem. System clock loses 3 minutes per day. I have a brand new Dell Inspiron - 2GB ram - AMD Turion 64x2 - Windows Vista. My older computer is a Dell Inspiron 1200 with Windows XP and it never lost a minute in the two years I've had it.

I have tried Dell support repeatedly to no avail.

[DaveA]

My Sony laptops have NOT lost any time and we have had them on most of the time for the past 8 months.

[CLittlejohn]

Like Adrift said, it could be a bad battery (CMOS), your Bios may need updating or something else is going on with your system.

Note that spyware, screen savers, processor-intensive applications can cause your clock to lag.

You can also set to synchronize your clock with one of the servers on this list by right clicking on your clock and selecting adjust date/time:
http://tf.nist.gov/service/time-servers.html

The time server time.windows.com is operated by Microsoft. The time server time.nist.gov is operated by the U.S. government.

If you use McAfee you'll have to unblock NPT access on UDP port 123 to sync your clock with one of the servers.


Other options:
Try setting the CMOS date/time in your Bios manually during the initial boot process to bring up the system setup screen usually by pressing F2.

If the clock start losing time again after you have restarted, then you probably need to change the CMOS battery on your motherboard.

[ineedhelp890]

I had the exact same problem after upgrading my xp machine to vista. I did nothing and the problem fixed itself over time and the clock is always accurate now. I never figured out what the problem was.

[drjema]

The time loss is definitely a VISTA problem. On a brand new Dell PC (with a brand new bios battery), I install Vista. It losses a few minutes everyday. Usually that means it is a bios battery problem...so I changed battery and flashed the bios although the pc was new. The problem continued. So I downgraded the Vista system to XP Professional and left it that way for 3 months. The problem stopped. Then I upgrade back to Vista. Guess what?...the losing time problem came back. It does help to change to a different time server from the Internet Time tab on the Date/Time properties. But still not perfect.

[mrbeanpa]

I too have encountered this problem since I built a brand new AMD based system.

I've changed the Time server and adjusted the time between re-synchs by tweaking the registry (can't remeber the detail but can probably re-locate if needed), this has gone a long way to resolving the problem. However, if the machine is in sleep state for any length of time, such as when I'm away on holiday it still loses time, in 4 days' it lost nearly an hour, good job i had no recordings scheduled as it's being used as a media server.

I've read loads about it, but nothing directly from Microsoft and it definately isn't anything to do with the CMOS battery - so it is a VISTA problem.

My only hope at the moment is that SP1 helps resolve the issue but I don't hold out much hope...

[deubanks]

I have Vista Home Premium and the AMD processor in my signature and have no problem with the time.

[okidusa]

I have vista and my clock goes back 2 hours every few days, sometimes everyday.

[DaveA]

Originally Posted by ineedhelp890

I had the exact same problem after upgrading my xp machine to vista. I did nothing and the problem fixed itself over time and the clock is always accurate now. I never figured out what the problem was.

Could be a hardware or BIOS issue, since you UPGRADED from XP. During Beta I never had this issue and I was doing clean installs on a XP machine.