I'm having a strange problem with my system clock in Linux. Whenever I boot into Linux after shutting the computer off, the system clock is way behind. The longer the computer is off, the greater the error -- up to 24 hours or more. This problem does not occur in Win98, only Linux.

I believe I've read that the system clock adjusts itself when you change the time, in an attempt to be accurate. It must store this information in a file somewhere, so does anyone know what file I can edit to remove that information, allowing the clock to start from scratch?

I'm running SuSE Linux 8.1/KDE 3.0 on an IBM ThinkPad 600E.

Thanks!

^^^

ntpd
http://linuxcommand.org/man_pages/ntpd1.html

I had a similiar problem back when I dualbooted. Make sure your Time Zone is set correctly. And that you have ntpd installed and configured properly.

The time zone is (and was) set correctly. I didn't know about ntpd, so I have started that and will see if it helps.

Thanks!

You should probably also make sure "Hardware Clock" is set to local (I think). This will prevent problems between Windows and Linux.

OK, thanks -- didn't think about that. I've now done "hwclock --localtime" hoping that will help.

5/20/05: I've tried all of the above and nothing has changed. :-(

So the question remains: Is there a file I can edit/delete that will wipe out all the correction data for the clock, so it will be as it was when first installed? Or are there any other suggestions?

If you've "tried all of the above" and the clock still slows down in linux, then ntpd isn't doing it's job. It would be nice to know what is causing the problem, but ntpd should be constantly updating the time to keep it correct.

The clock doesn't drift while Linux is running. It loses time -- lots of it -- whenever the computer is rebooted or shut off. But only when booted into Linux, not Windoze, which makes me think it is a Linux software/configuration problem, as opposed to a hardware problem.

Sounds like it MIGHT be time for a new CMOS battery.

You may also want to flash your BIOS. I had the same problem with a Gigabyte board and AMIBIOS (don't recall what release) a while back. The time issue was resolved for several months, however just recently it occurred again. I had replaced the battery and setup ntp previous to doing the BIOS.
What kind of h/w. I'm simply curious to see if we share anything in common.
I don't have the specifics in front of me, but I'm pretty sure it was the Gigabyte G7XE, Athlon 800Mhz, Voodoo 3000.

Gee, how old is this thread?

Well, in case anyone is still subscribed to it, here's what happened:

The CMOS battery was definitely bad, so I replaced it -- and the system clock was still way off. Apparently, losing the CMOS battery threw the clock off so badly that, once the battery was replaced, it couldn't compensate, even after a couple weeks of resetting the hardware clock several times a day.

After a lot of research, I finally read that the clock drift compensation can be reset by deleting the file /etc/adjtime. So I deleted it. Problem solved!

Great job, Jim! This thread will be a good one for those poor frustrated people looking for an obscure answer. Glad you got it fixed!

Thanks, tremor_tj. I didn't want to leave the thread hanging, in case someone else had the same problem.

BTW, I got the CMOS battery from www.AtBatt.com, which had by far the cheapest prices I could find. I had it within 3-4 business days.