Member Avatar for marceta

My system clock used to be fine, but nowadays it is losing up to 4 minutes per hour. I freqently synchronize it, but it still seases to work. How can i stop this?

cheers

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Dani AI

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A steady loss of ~4 minutes per hour while the PC is running — and mostly when playing games or under heavy load — points away from the CMOS battery and toward the system's time source or drivers. correctly noted the battery mainly matters when the machine is powered off. and offered sync tools and instructions; those help mask drift but won't fix a clock that runs slow under load. The pattern you describe suggests timer selection (TSC vs. platform timers), CPU frequency scaling, or a driver/BIOS issue is changing the effective timebase when the system is stressed.

Practical diagnostic steps, in order:

  • Run a Live Linux session (bootable CD/USB) and leave the machine idle and then under load; if Linux shows the same drift, suspect hardware (motherboard oscillator) or BIOS. If Linux stays accurate, the problem is in Windows/drivers.
  • Boot Windows in Safe Mode and repeat a short test; absence of drift there implicates a third-party driver or service.
  • Temporarily disable CPU power-management features in BIOS (SpeedStep/PowerNow/CPU C-states) or set fixed-performance mode and retest.
  • Update motherboard BIOS and chipset (southbridge) drivers, then test again.
  • Test with a different video driver or disable overlays and recording tools used by games (these often install hooks that affect timing).

To record behavior over time, create a simple time-logger (stops when you close the window) and compare against a reliable clock:

@echo off
echo Logging start %date% %time% > C:\timelog.txt
:loop
echo %date% %time% >> C:\timelog.txt
ping -n 61 127.0.0.1 >nul
goto loop

If diagnostics point to Windows/driver interaction, update or remove the offending driver (video, USB/gamepad overlays, capture software). If the drift persists across OSes, the oscillator or motherboard timing circuitry is likely at fault and a board repair/replacement or vendor support is warranted. Large, consistent drifts like 4 min/hr are abnormal — collect logs (timelog plus CPU frequency/temperature traces) before replacing hardware to be sure.

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Member Avatar for caperjack

install and new battery on your motherboard .

Member Avatar for marceta

thanks, can you please explain how this will affect the pcs performance though? Also can you recommend a good battery. cheers

Member Avatar for caperjack

thanks, can you please explain how this will affect the pcs performance though? Also can you recommend a good battery. cheers

Actually rereading you post ,your clock shouldn't loose time when running because it no longer is running from the battery ,does it loose a whole lot of time when computer is shuttdown.
If it is the battery Radio Shack type is fine .

Edit : I just found this tidbit of info .

Member Avatar for Catweazle

Are you using Windows XP with broadband Internet, marceta? If so it is possible to alter settings so that Windows synchronises with an online atomic clock at frequent intervals.

Member Avatar for marceta


thanks, but changing it does nothing, it will always loose time


yes i have a cable connection, how do i do this?

Member Avatar for Catweazle

Most of those search results will tell you simply how to manually synchronise the clock. If you wish to have the system automatically synchronise at regular intervals, and don't wish to delve into Registry editing, download and use a utility program such as:

which will allow you to set the intervals at which you wish the clock to be updated.

Member Avatar for DMR

Most of those search results will tell you simply how to manually synchronise the clock.

Umm... ???

Many of those links describe how to do what you suggested earlier:

"Are you using Windows XP with broadband Internet, marceta? If so it is possible to alter settings so that Windows synchronises with an online atomic clock at frequent intervals."

Member Avatar for marceta

strangly enough, the clock is fine, and thanks to everyone that told me how to set it! It is only when i play games, or other high RAM apps that it lags!

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