Computer clock gains 10 mins a day

lolly5648

This seems to be a new thing but I have to synchronise my computer clock every morning as it gains around 10 minutes a day. I could understand it losing - battery failing - but gaining. This has only happened in the last few weeks.

Any ideas?

d900

at what stage does it gain the time?

BritBrat

Did you change the CMOS battery?

RichPyke

The clock in a PC is the most inaccurate clock ever made. Just trun on synchronization, it'll set itself then.

lolly5648

The clock is set to synchronise automatically but seems to be set to do it once a week - I havent changed the battery as I didn't think it would gain if the battery was duff. I check every morning to see if it has gained time although it is probably running fast all day.

aliEnRIK

lolly5648 wrote: »

The clock is set to synchronise automatically but seems to be set to do it once a week - I havent changed the battery as I didn't think it would gain if the battery was duff. I check every morning to see if it has gained time although it is probably running fast all day.

This happened to me as Peer Guardian was blocking the signal from reaching Microsoft to sync my time. Have you recently installed anything that might have that effect?

espresso

lolly5648 wrote: »

I check every morning to see if it has gained time although it is probably running fast all day.

You should find that the clock is accurate during the day (if reset) while the PC is powered up. Still sounds like you need a new battery. How old is it?

John_Gray

I would agree with the CMOS battery replacement suggestion.

If you want to have the time updated more frequently than once a week, you could try the following Registry modification (usual disclaimers about backing up apply)...

How to change the Windows XP internet time update frequency

The user can increase or decrease the frequency of updates by making a simple registry change. Add or change the SpecialPollInterval DWORD setting. Note the value is in seconds...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient\

For example if you set the value to 86400 (decimal seconds) then the XP PC will poll the time server once a day.

Update             Decimal DWORD
Interval          Value (Seconds)
1 Hour                    3600
1 Day                    86400
1 Week                  604800

espresso

John_Gray wrote: »

If you want to have the time updated more frequently than once a week................

However if the battery does need replacing, changing the frequency of the time synchronisation is simply masking the problem. Sooner or later the machine will probably fail to boot, due to losing the data stored in the CMOS memory.

John_Gray

You seem to have missed my first sentence! (Easily done...)

BritBrat

There is a programe to change the time interval.

Change Internet Time Sync Interval v2.0

Change Internet Time Sync Interval v2.0 (5/24/2008)
Copyright 2002-2008 - Doug Knox
By default, Windows XP and Vista will try to synchronize your computer's time with an Internet Time Server on a weekly basis. This utility will allow you to change the interval (frequency) between Internet Time Updates. You can choose from weekly, daily, hourly or "custom" settings. Download the ZIP file and extract the contents to your hard drive. The EXE file you extracted is the program. There is no install/uninstall.
You MUST have Administrator level privileges to use this utility.
.Net Framework v2.00 is required to run this utility.
Operating System(s): Windows XP. Requires the VB 6 runtime library (included with Windows XP), Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003.
Version 2.0 - Completely re-written in VB.NET to work with Windows Vista, as well as Windows XP. Intervals changed to Hourly, Daily and Weekly. No custom intervals are available.
Version 1.2 - was a re-write of the Registry code that works much better.
Version 1.1 - fixes a bug when more than 9 hours were selected for the update interval.
Internet Time Update.zip here.
This page last updated 06/23/2008 15:20
All material © Doug Knox

Mine updates every day.