Time Synchronization

[dandxg]

Quote from GTS:

If your computer clock is drifting that fast then something is wrong.

I agree with the other poster that you should look into replacing the motherboard real-time clock battery (should be a cheap/easy fix). You may also want to run a system diagnostic program that checks real-time clock functions.

No, the RTC/hardware clock is what programs and the OS use as their source. Programs that sync with ntp servers simply adjust the hardware clock, they cant replace it (at least I've never heard of it)

PC time problem can often be fixed with new system battery
http://www.cyberwalker.net/columns/dec96/122696.html

If you replace the battery, and your computer is unplugged will you lose your settings on your computer? Hopefully, this isn't too much a computer Noob question to ask? TIA

 

[rwk]

Quote from dandxg:
If you replace the battery, and your computer is unplugged will you lose your settings on your computer? Hopefully, this isn't too much a computer Noob question to ask? TIA

I believe you would lose the date and time, but it is pretty trivial to reset that.

 

[GTS]

Quote from dandxg:

If you replace the battery, and your computer is unplugged will you lose your settings on your computer? Hopefully, this isn't too much a computer Noob question to ask? TIA

Older computers used to keep the BIOS settings saved in CMOS using this battery so a loss of battery power would cause you to lose any custom BIOS settings (e.g. they should revert back to factory default)

AFAIK, all modern PC's store these settings in non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) so that they dont depend on the battery power.

In any case, if you have made any customizations to the default BIOS settings you may want to record them (on paper) before you do the battery swap just to be sure. Most people dont mess around with the BIOS settings these days anyway.