Windows 7 not keeping time correctly.

S

s8n

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 13, 2003
Messages
285
I have an active internet connection, it's up 100% of the time. I already have my computer set to sync with internet time [I've tried different servers]. However now the only time it shows the correct time is when I manually sync with the server. Over the course of the next few hours, it's off... not by seconds... minutes... but hours.

I did a good search and the most common response seems to be "replace the CMOS battery". Granted it's not rocket science to replace the battery. I'm just wondering if there's any other suggestions or if anybody else has ran into this problem.

Thanks :D
 
Windows itself is just pulling time from either the clock circuit on the mobo (kept current because of the CMOS battery, no pun intended - current, electricity, etc) or by pulling time from time servers online as you're already aware. By default Windows doesn't lose time itself and really has no way of just resetting or adjusting the clock on a random whim so either it's a) the CMOS battery does need replacing or b) there's some code somewhere altering the clock when Windows is operational.

Personally I'd point towards the CMOS battery myself but who knows, it sure can't hurt anything to get a new battery, they're not super expensive and just a few bucks at most.
 
I didnt even consider malware. I havent downloaded anything as of late. But I'll run a dedicated malware scan tonight.

Thank you.
 
turn off auto time zone and set it manually but leave set time on auto. my system kept changing my time zone on me until I manually set it, now it keeps time fine. test/replace your cmos batt too.
 
Remove the battery, get a multimeter and check it's at 3v. If the battery is 2.9v and under it's flat and needs replacing. If this doesn't work, do a thorough malware/virus scan. Malicious software mucks with the time/date as it makes it impossible to validate a trusted certificate, therefore making it difficult to visit any https address.
 
Last I looked, the default for Windows is to poll the Internet time server of your choosing every 604800 seconds, or every seven days. You can change the the timing to daily by going to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient and modifying the keyword SpecialPollInterval to a lower value such as 86400, or once per day. I wouldn't go any lower than that.

The time server that I use is us.pool.ntp.org , however, that may differ based upon where you are located. See this list of NTP servers. If you don't know, just stick with pool.ntp.org.

Also, how old is your motherboard? It could be that the battery is dying. Most motherboards use a CR-2032 battery. Very common.
 
P8p67 rev 3. I'd assume it's 5-6yrs old, based on product release. Which falls in line with what their battery life should be. I'm going to replace the battery. I ran a scan with spybot sd and malwarebytes.

I'm used to bad/dead cmos batteries when the board doesnt remember settings or time on power on post. Not so much when it's already booted.
 
Make sure the "Windows Time" service is set to Automatic.
For whatever reason I've seen it set to manual before.

.
 
Word, thank you.

I ran a few spyware checks w/ spybot s&d and also malware bytes. It didn't solve the problem.

Replaced the CMOS battery and everything is all good. I'm not sure if this is related to the problem but I was having problems with the onboard NIC as well. If left unattended it would disconnect me from the internet, but it would still detect the cable. Simply disabling/re-enabling would solve the problem. So far time is spot on and I've had no more random disconnects.
 
Check and make sure that the date and time are correctly set in BIOS (Basic Input Output System).

If he not comfortable with changing the date and time in bios, you can contact the computer manufacturer for changing that.
 
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