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Clock resets to wrong time on reboot

1K views 17 replies 4 participants last post by  Ice4 
#1 ·
My laptop (Windows 7 Home, 64 bit) crashed the other night, and ever since the clock isn't working properly anymore. On reboot it reverts to a previous time, and I have to reset it. I do so by synching to internet time. It seemed to be working once I reset it, but yesterday it lost a couple of hours over night, or reset at some point without my noticing, even though I did not reboot.

I thought maybe the clock sets back to the time when I switched the computer off, or maybe the time I last manually synched to internet time, but I've not been able to figure out a clear pattern of what time it reverts back to on reboot.

I never realized how disruptive it is not to have a working clock on the computer. I couldn't get into my email before I realized it was off, because the site interpreted me as coming from the future. And I set reminders in my computer calender that depend on the computer clock.

I would appreciate any insight into how I might fix this. Thanks so much.
 
#3 ·
My computer is a Dell Inspiron laptop model# i15n-2731bk. I don't find much helpful online about how to access the battery in it. I can find lots of instructions for desktops, but not for laptops.

Is there a way to definitively diagnose that it's the battery before I start taking apart the hardware, or is that the only explanation for what I'm experiencing?

Thanks.
 
#6 ·
That's my understanding too, that the clock reverts back to the same time and date if it's the battery. And after watching that video I really hope that it's not the battery, because I definitely don't have the guts for those maneuvers. Thanks for finding it, Lozzy-loz. I will keep it on file, just in case.

I'm hoping someone here might have some other ideas about what might be going on, that is hopefully much easier to fix, or workaround.
 
#8 ·
This looks promising. I'll play around with this over the next day to see if I can make it work. Since my system doesn't go online instantly on startup, I may go with the first one on the list, because it looks like it has the option to wait to sync the time until after I actually go online. Thanks so much. Much appreciate the resource.
 
#10 ·
Well, I tried the Dimension 4 program, and that initially looked good, until I started losing time. There are just a few settings, but there is one that determines how often the program updates the time, which I left unticked, but it still updated at that regular interval. I even changed the time on it, to test it, and even though I always unchecked it, it still did that. I even uninstalled and reinstalled a couple of times to see if that would fix it. The problem really was that if I wasn't online, or I was downloading something that was taking a lot of bandwidth, the program couldn't update, but instead of keeping the current time running, it reverted back to the previous update. So I uninstalled it, and am now back to relying on Windows.

I may try the other programs, but for now it's just easier to manually update when I reboot. When I got back online today, the time again seemed pretty random, and without a clear pattern. It was set to a couple of hours before I got offline and off the computer last night.
 
#11 ·
I can't see the response here that I just got in my inbox from you, Allan, so I'm a little confused about how to reply to it. You mentioned a network card, and I don't know what that refers to, but I think you're talking about something to keep me online more consistently? I don't want to be required to be online all the time for the clock to work. That's not sustainable for me. I do a lot of work on my computer without being online, and it's important for me to be able to do that. That's why I went with that one program, which seemed to give me the option to have it sync once after going online, and then it would exit until the next reboot, and hopefully then the computer clock would stay consistent (it mostly has once I reset it after I reboot). It doesn't make a lot of sense to me to have a program keep updating the time, and if it can't, to revert back to a different time than the clock currently says. There's gotta be a better way. At this point doing it manually seems to be the most reliable, but I'll take a look at the other two programs to see if they function differently.
 
#13 ·
Ice4 : I deleted that post here in this thread because I wrote it thinking you had a desktop, hence the network card idea, then remembered it was a laptop ! Presumably you got it in your Inbox because you are subscribed to this thread.

Given you don't want to be online all the time you can either live with the clock issue and carry on as you have been doing, or open the laptop up and fit a new Cmos battery - but if you're not comfortable with that idea I understand.
 
#14 ·
Thanks for the clarification, Allan. It later occurred to me that you might have deleted it, after I noticed that network cards seem to be specific to desktop computers.

I suspect you're right, and I may have to live with the wonky clock, but from what snuffleufflegus said it sounds like there might be a way to reset the clock by going into bios, which might also clarify if the problem really is the cmos battery. But I've never gone into bios, so would need step by step instructions to be able to pull that off.

Thanks so much!
 
#15 ·
Just after switching on you have to tap on a particular key to get into the Bios, on Dells it's usually the F2 key. If not F2 the key required is often shown at the bottom of the first screen displayed, sometimes it will be called Bios Setup or just Setup.

Once in the Bios you should be able to find where to set the date and time, there are many different layouts of Bios so I can't be more specific.

If you make any changes don't forget to Save and exit, usually pressing F10 does that.
 
#16 ·
Timing may be difficult when trying to enter the bios,particularly if it is set to "Fast Boot". So you might need to be quick about it if you dont see the key required to enter the bios as it may quickly flash and then disappear before you tap the correct key.As soon as you turn the computer on,repeatedly tap the f2 key till an option comes up to enter the bios like as Managed specified,either (setup or bios..etc).It is imparitive upon exiting that you SAVE your changes by tapping the f10 key or clicking the "save changes and exit" option.If you do not save the changes,you will have to repeat the process as nothing will change.
This does not necessarily mean this will work for you.But it's the process of elimination before tearing that laptop down or just living with it.
 
#17 ·
Thanks to both of you for these instructions. I doubt my laptop is on 'fast boot' (it's quite slow), and I do remember seeing something come up about bios. I was a bit worried about opening up something I don't know how to get out of, but it sounds like it's pretty simple to exit. I haven't had a chance to try this today, but I'll update this thread after I attempt this in the next couple of days.
 
#18 ·
It took me a few days to get back to this, but I've now tried resetting the clock in BIOS several times. The first time I didn't hit F10, but I figured it out by the next time I tried. At first that seemed to be working fine, but then I started losing time again, and the clock was suddenly way off. It seems to me that it was even more wonky after resetting in BIOS, than after just resetting to internet time after each reboot. Most of the time the clock stays accurate until the next reboot, though a couple of times I lost time after that too.

So no matter if I reset in BIOS, or reset after reboot, each reboot the clock resets again to an earlier time. At this point I think it's probably most realistic to just get in the habit of resetting after reboot, and keeping an eye on an external clock. Assuming that the problem is that internal battery that's so difficult to get to in a laptop, does this mean that other functions are also going to be affected by this?
 
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