my clock is running too fast

[CasTroLTraN]

My computer's clock at the bottom right is going too fast. For every minute, it would go ~15 seconds faster than normal time. So every 10 days or so, I would have to set my clock back by one hour. Does anyone know how to fix this? BTW , motherboard is only 10 months old. Thank you

 

[otispunkmeyer]

your in a parallel universe?

 

[chocoruacal]

Make sure windows is NOT set to synch time with any servers. Its in one of the options menus when you double click the clock.

 

[KK]

Your computer isn't overclocked is it?

 

[laurenlex]

Originally posted by: KK
Your computer isn't overclocked is it?

LOL. :beer:

 

[Davegod]

I'm fairly sure i've seen something about clocks running too slow because the mobo battery is running down, guess replacing it is one possible option (dont take it lightly tho, removing battery will reset cmos so you'll have all bios settings to default, and make sure you get the exact same battery to replace it)

 

[dullard]

Battery can be an option in some cases, as it uses the battery to keep the clock running when the computer is off. But that doesn't describe the case at hand.

Autosynch with a server can lead to clock problems, but often isn't the case.

What you are left with is programs. Programs can intentionally or unintentionally modify the clock.
[*]Unintended clock change: I've had many programs I've written that for some reason the clock becomes off by 1-2 mintues each time they are run. These programs never checked the time, and never tried to alter the time, so the reason the compiler creates a result that does affect the time is beyond me.
[*]Intended clock change: This occured much more in the past, but often the clock was used for timing of critical program parts. This was to avoid the effect of fast computers running too fast or slow computers running too slow. Sometimes if things are still off a few percent, the program just altered the clock instead of redoing the entire timing scheme.
[*]NIST (National Intitute of Standards and Technology) had a short paper once describing these program effects. Edit: Here it is.

The software clock is a poor timekeeper. Its timing uncertianty is limited by the stability of the interrupt requests. Any change in the interrupt request rate causes the clock to gain or lose time... It's also possible for an ill-behaved software program to use the timer-counter for another purpose and change its interrupt rate. This could cause the clock to rapidly gain or lose time.

Try turning off ALL programs and seeing if the clock runs correctly. It could be anything, even something that should be a benign background program.

 

[VirtualLarry]

How often has this problem been happening? Ever since you got your motherboard? If so, the mobo is bad, RMA it. Otherwise, try replacing the CMOS battery. Also, after doing that, go into the BIOS setup screen where it displays the current time, and just let it sit there. See if it still goes too fast, even with a new CMOS battery. If so, the board is bad.

I've actually seen that once, back in the day, with an el-cheapo 386 mobo with a Forex chipset. I took it back to the shop, they hardly believed me, until they had it on the bench, looking at the BIOS clock-setting screen, and watching it increment by 3-4 seconds at a time. Very bizarre.

 

[CasTroLTraN]

holy hell...I have found out that the clock is running too fast and that now I am in the year 2011. Now I found out the reason why some of my programs failed to initialize because they have expired (thought it was 2011)... ok
changing the battery didn't help...still the same
programs running... none that I could think of, maybe ad-watch monitoring and norton antivirus.
motherboard...this motherboard has been thru with a psu that had blew up couples of months back,
maybe that the problem? So conclusion: motherboard is shot
What is a good MB to go with a barton 3200+?

 

[bupkus]

If you happen to have a spare hard drive around, try installing a fresh OS. If it does the same thing as before you can be sure it's hardware related. I would do this with all unnecessary pci cards removed.

Or better yet, go into the bios and watch if it clocks too fast there.

 

[JamesMW]

Hey,

Just wanted to say that I have this problem on my machine too.

It's not nearly as bad as yours is though.
My PC clock gains about 3 mins every month, so I have to lower it down to match the household clocks every once in a while.
I've always thought it was a weird issue too.
I mean, most people know about system clocks which lose time, usually the sign of a bad cmos battery, but one that gains time?

Was starting to think my computer figured out how to travel faster than the speed of light

I'm running an 800MHz Athlon T-Bird in this computer with Win98SE.
The motherboard is a VIA VT8363/KT133.

Btw, mines been doing this ever since I bought it about 3 years ago. It hasn't gotten any worse over the years so I doubt the motherboard is going to die and that is a sign of it.
'course, yours is much much worse by the sound of it though..