Cant you tell the time??? Wots up with my clock (no jokes please)

[aMn3siAc]

This one's for my mate. He's got a slight problem with his clock!

When he starts up the computer the clock on the desktop is wrong. He puts it right and shuts down.
When he starts up again the clock is wrong.
What is going on and is there a little man in his PC fiddling with his clock?
Any ideas people?
Thanks for th help

Sean (aMn3siAc)

 

[rtech]

The battery that keeps his cmos chip powered up is probably starting to die out. You will need to open the case and replace the battery. The battery is normally on the back of the motherboard next to the main power jack. You can't miss it. It's best to have someone that knows what they are doing try this as you may end up resetting your cmos if you do it wrong.

 

[nlm9802]

if its on a network it may be synchronizing with the time server. if its not on a network and he hasnt installed any programs to synchronize his clock with another computer I would try a new CMOS battery. What does it change his clock to? if it always changes to midnight it is almost definately the CMOS battery. They cost about 2$ american to replace.

 

[osuman]

How does one replace the battery without resetting the CMOS? Do it while it's on? That sounds like trouble. (I'm not being sarcastic. I'd seriously like to know.) Justin

Feel free to email me at:
beckham@mailbox.orst.edu

 

[gunthnp]

no trun it off most cmos chip can hold the time and date for a few seconds even up to five min but you may to to go in to the cmos and fix some setting after no biggy but DO NOT do it while it on. So long and thanks for all the fish.

 

[thokkquarrion]

Just to "piggy-back" on what rtech and gunthnp posted. Whenever you make any modification to your system that may effect your CMOS (such as replacing the battery), always be sure to go into your CMOS and write down ALL the current settings.

This way, if you lose any settings, you will have a hardcopy to work from when re-setting them.

Hope this information is helpful.

 

[davidianmage]

Are you running Norton AV???

that can cause slowness in some systems and if you do a live update should correct issue

hope that this helps

davidianmage

 

[teknoguy]

unfortunatly are friend probably doesn't know what the battery looks like. there are three types which i know of. If it's an older pc 486, early pentium the battery is a Clock Module which looks like a chip. and usually has the word "Dallas" and " real time clock" writen on the chip. Ive also seen lithium packs which get connected to the motherboard via pin connection. the third which is the standard, is a coin battery rated at 3 volts (looks like a coin). i would test the battery with a voltmeter just to be sure it is the battery. sometimes thats not the case. good luck