Windows Time Not Correct

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Win7 64.bit: My clock is always off by up to 8-10 seconds and will not sync. with any of the sites in “internet Time Settings”
Services show that the win. time and remote procedure call are running but services under msconfig show win. time stopped.
The MOB battery was good but I replaced it with a fresh one anyway.
I’m checking the time against an two atomic clocks.

This clock is the win. gadget clock on the desktop with the second hand running.
Should win. time in services in the msconfig services be running all the time and if so how can I get it started? (have stopped and started win.time in services with no change)

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When you pulled the battery and exchanged it for the new one, how long did you leave it out. Normally to reset BIOS/CMOS settings you need to pull the battery and leave it out for 5 minutes. Or use your mobo’s manual to find the jumpers to reset the BIOS.

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Yes, the battery was out for about 10 min. and I got the BIOs warning about the time being wrong during the next boot. I reset the yr. day and mo. and synced with “time.nist.gov”.
The clock synced but is 7 seconds slow after about 20 minutes.

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I have two computers here running Windows 7. Comparing the Clocks, they are about 3 seconds off from each other.

I haven’t looked into it recently, but I seem to remember that there are usually significant delays caused by Network Latency. By significant delays, I mean on the order of several seconds. Where syncing server clocks was important, we set up an NTP server on the local network and synced all clocks to that.

What are you using as an accurate time source to compare your computer to?

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You could try this Fixit to restore the Windows Time service to defaults to see if that makes any difference http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc738995(WS.10).aspx

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Prescott, I have tried all the servers listed in the “internet time” and the results are the same.

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I should have mentioned that I tried the MS Fixit several days ago. Time would sync but not keep correct time for over 3-4 hours.
For some unknown reason,after leaving everything alone for the past few hours, the clock is keeping time with the atomic clocks.
I’ll let it run for awhile and post back.

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The Internet Time scheduler is a weekly thing, so it may have needed to wait for that to properly sync.

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Same thing happens in skype if you change your time settings…..it takes 12 – 24 hours for the sync to catch up.

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Well, the clock is running 6 seconds slow after about 5 hours since the last reset. I’ll just live with it and hope it does not cause any problems down the road.

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Is this a retail PC or a custom build? In either case, there might be something defective on the mobo itself…eg the BIOS chip.

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It could be worth going to the computer/motherboard support site and reinstalling the Chipset drivers and/or checking for a BIOS update.

I think clock problems can lead to Windows Update problems.

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It is a one year old HP desktop.
As I said, I’ll just live with it and see if it causes any problems later.
I’m still wondering about why the RPC shows running in services and stopped in the services tab of msconfig.
According to the windows time in services it is dependent on the RPC running.

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It is a one year old HP desktop.
As I said, I’ll just live with it and see if it causes any problems later.
I’m still wondering about why the RPC shows running in services and stopped in the services tab of msconfig.
According to the windows time in services it is dependent on the RPC running.

RPC is Auto so will only run when it is needed and both it and Windows Time are showing as Stopped in my msconfig although RPC is showing as Started in services.msc.

The default start for Windows Time appears to be Manual so will show as Stopped in services.msc.

Edit –

Have you run HP’s Diagnostics http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&docname=c01443317

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Yes, the only tool on my HP Dia. is a memory check and it is ok.
I’ve got to get out of here for a few hours. I’ll check the time again later and get back.

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After two boots since I was here last I found that Windows Time was missing in services. It was there all morning and just disappeared.
I ran the MS Fixit and (command prompt)w32tm /register and got the Windows Time back and started in services but the clock is still running a few seconds slow.

Guys, thanks for the help but I’m going to just let it go until it causes a problem that might have a cure then get back here to bleed on you again.

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As the Windows Time service went A.W.O.L. – Event Viewer and/or Reliability history may have something on that.

Could be worth running a robust anti malware scan as apparently, malware can get into the system and steal CPU clock cycles – so I’ve read.

A slow clock will eventually cause you browsing problems by giving website security certificate errors as they sync up with the computer’s clock, so you may not have to wait as long as you might expect.

e-mail problems can also arise as the time of the e-mail will not match that of your clock.

Just a thought – are you still set to the correct time zone and any DST if applicable ?

Atomic Clock is a free program for keeping your clock sync’d which you could try.

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As

Atomic Clock is a free program for keeping your clock sync’d which you could try.

I think I have an elderly version of that!
I would suggest turning off the time sync and seeing how well the RTC does on its own.

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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I ran Malwarebytes, MS Security Essentials and House Call. All show clean.Ran sfc /scannow,chkdsk /r and chkdsk /f and came up clean. Downloaded the Atomic Clock as in Sudo 15’s post and set it to sync every 12 hours. Clock is running 8 seconds slow right now.
I have a cloned hard drive(entire system clone) that I cloned 2 weeks ago and I’m going to fire it up in the morn. and see what happens.
I’ll post back tomorrow with the results of that.

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OK guys, I booted up the cloned drive and all is well. No idea as to what caused the problem as I am very careful of what I download.
I only had to catch up with a few updates and I’m off and running.
I’ll clone this drive back to the old one to,hopefully, get rid of whatever fouled up the clock and be ready for the next glitch.
Thanks to all for the help.

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Glad things have worked out and thanks for the update, but like you, it would have been nice to have found the cause.

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