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Windows Clock

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manharris

Technical User
Dec 23, 2001
10
CA
I have a brand new PIV 1.6 from Dell and have noticed that the clock can't keep time. I have the right time zone selected, even tried having it automatically update it self when connected to the internet. If I fix the time and leave the computer on it falls behind like 10 minutes each hour. It is very annoying because all my previous computers never did this and I'm in such a habit of checking the time on my computer and base my schelduling on it. Does any one have any suggestions?
 

i knew i saw this subject elsewhere in this forum. see linney's post in thread779-223701

hope this helps.
 
The latest on Dell courtesy of "Langalist".


QUOTE......

3) "Weird Problem" Solved!

In "Weird Problem" ( 09.htm#5 ) I wrote about a reader query that had me stumped: A PC's
system clock was losing time for no obvious reason. I gave some general
advice, and then asked if other readers might know better answers.
I got a flood of email covering a wide range of issues--- some of which
I'd never heard of, but many of which turned out to be exactly--- and I
mean *exactly*--- right:

See: It's called "Why does my computer lose time in the Microsoft
Windows XP operating system?" I followed these instructions
and it works OK. --- Richard Schrafel

I recently purchased a new Dell and had the same problem.
Searching Dell's support site I found a patch to cure the
problem. Below is the only explanation on Dell's website, so I
have no idea what the problem is or what the cure is. The
patch did take care of my problem: "Description: Dell Time
Keeping Utilty. Dell systems with factory installed Microsoft
Windows XP Pro or Home may lose time. Time loss rate has been
reported as high as a 20 minute loss per hour...." --- Randy
Palmer

In your newsletter today, a reader wrote about their clock
being off with Windows XP. An interesting note is that Dell
had a this problem with computers shipped with XP
preinstalled. They have a patch at
--- Yeager

About Jonny Lieberman's BIOS timing problem He didn't indicate
whether he had an OEM system or not, but I know that Dell
offers an update for their Dimension 8200 systems that
corrects a time problem. It can be found at
ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/utility/time.exe .[Note: This is an
alternate download location for the same file mentioned
previously.] --- Eric Ellenberg

Hi Fred, In regard to the weird problem in the latest
newsletter, I had the same problem with my new Dell. I went
through all the steps and found it to be the Windows system
(XP Pro). Never found exactly what the problem was, but in my
research I found other Dell users with the same problem. There
happened to be a download fix on the Dell site. There was an
instruction file and a batch file in the download. The batch
file contains these commands:
@echo off
@cmd /c net stop w32time
@cmd /c w32tm /unregister
@cmd /c w32tm /unregister
@cmd /c w32tm /register
@cmd /c net start w32time
I never really thought much about it after it fixed a very
annoying problem, especially when I was late to pick up my
kids one day. Looks like some type of registry problem.
Anyway, I have attached the files. I am not sure if they apply
to the case mentioned in the newsletter, but the problem he
describes is exactly the same. --- Paul M Ruzicka

Many readers also knew about a conflict between Dell's OEM installation
of XP Pro and Norton Internet Security/Antivirus: This conflict also
causes the clock to lose time. The fix is to update part of the Norton
software via the link at
.

Others suggested this link, which gives an indication of how widespread
clock problems are on the Dell 8200 line:

So the problem clearly seems to be with Dell system clocks. In fact, the
only thing in the Microsoft KnowledgeBase that looked even vaguely
similar was
,
dug up by reader "Dave S." But that problem is incredibly
specific: The XP system-tray clock can jump by an hour under certain
conditions "... if your original time zone was set to '(GMT-06:00)
Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey.'"

I sent all this info to Jonny Lieberman, the reader who originally had
asked for help. He wrote back:

Yep. It is a Dell. XP Pro pre-installed. About five months
old. Plus my power supply is regulated. Plus, all three of my
other machines have perfectly functioning clocks. None are
Dells. One is a Frankenstein with XP Pro that I installed
myself. 20 minutes an hour sounds exactly right. I'll start
playing with the patches. And, your readers are amazing. What
a group! -Jonny-

I agree! There's probably no PC problem that you folks can't
collectively solve. <g>


END QUOTE.......
 
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