Clock losing time ...

[TheVrolok]

My computer's clock is constantly losing time ... It gets to the point where it's 20+ minutes slow before I fix it (I use WorldTime to update the time via the Net) but I have no idea why it's slow ... I never turn my computer off so I doubt it's the battery(tho it could ALSO be the battery) and even when I'm using it all day (so it's not sleeping or suspended) it seems to lose time ... Can anyone tell me why they think this would be happening?

<edit>
BTW, this is a "new" motherboard ... maybe 4 or 5 months old, so I don't think the battery would have gone by now.
</edit>

 

[Spuffin]

You've already indicated that it could be the battery and I would like to second that. Even though the battery is "new" doesn't necessarily mean it is GOOD You could've just gotten a bad battery

 

[TheVrolok]

But if the computer is always on, would the battery make a difference?

 

[OZEE]

Is it the windows clock or the system (BIOS) clock that's loosing time? Some computers only synchronize the windoze clock to the bios clock on bootup.

 

[TheVrolok]

Hmm.. very good question, I never thought to check the bios clock to see if it was causing the windows clock to be off ... If it is, then maybe it is something with the battery ... I think I'm going to grab a new battery and see if it fixes it.. shrug, not a very expensive trial and error process.

 

[microAmp]

My brother had an EPoX 8KHA+ with the battery going out all the time, defective mobo. Just be weary of that in case the battery continues to die over and over again in a year's time.

 

[WW]

sometimes a program can interfere with what windows thinks is the real time...

in a dos window (command prompt) enter 'time' and see if it says the same time that is on the taskbar in windows.

if so, then some program is causing a problem (shutdown antivirus programs, screensavers, etc to figure out which one).

but, yeah, a weak battery will cause it also

 

[GotComputers]

From a CNN article:

Despite your PC's high price and fancy technology, its internal clock isn't reliable. In fact, PCs have two clocks: a software clock powered by Windows that runs when your PC is on, and a battery-powered hardware clock embedded on your PC's motherboard that tracks time when your PC is off. However, both are flawed.

Windows' software clock can lose up to a minute each hour, especially when resource-hungry programs dominate the CPU, says Bryan Starbuck, a Microsoft software developer. Older PCs running lots of power-hungry software are particularly susceptible to time drift, as are notebooks. The longer your PC remains on between restarts, the likelier its clock is skewed.

The good news is that each time Windows restarts, the time resets to your PC's BIOS, which gets the time from your PC's hardware clock.

The bad news is that hardware clocks keep time using quartz crystals common to wristwatches. Swings in temperature that occur when you turn your PC on and off can slightly distort the quartz timing device. This can cause it to lose or gain seconds with each reboot. Over time, those seconds add up, says Skip Singer, president of Beagle Software, which makes the time utility ClockWatch.

Linky