CMOS RTC Problem - Windows 8 - Gateway


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I have a similar problem.  New machine, keeps time only when not asleep.  As soon as it goes to sleep, the clock stops.  I changed the CMOS battery already - no change.  I looked at "time" from the command prompt and it is in sync with the clock in the taskbar - both wrong.  Windows 8, Gateway computer SX2865.  Can anyone tell me what to do next to troubleshoot?

Thanks!

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Mine randomly sets itself to EST timezone, when I'm supposed to be on GMT. Has happened 3 times since 8.1 came out, not sure how to replicate the issue.

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I imagine the RTC circuit was not properly oscillating with the faulty battery. Here's what happens under normal circumstances:

  1. RTC oscillates normally while system is on.
  2. When main power is cut (system turned off), the RTC circuit automatically switches over to use the battery backup. This is done using logic that is built into the circuit when the input voltage falls below a certain threshold.
  3. RTC continues to oscillate normally while the system is off -- using the coin battery.
  4. When the main power returns (system is turned on), the RTC circuit automatically switches over to use the main power. This is done using logic that is built into the circuit when the input voltage rises above a certain threshold.

Note, the point I'm making here is that the RTC circuit operation is completely self-contained under normal circumstances. It requires no input from the BIOS and will hum along on its own generating ticks with the system on or off without intervention. Now what happens if the battery dies? Tje RTC circuit shuts off when the system is powered down. This means that when the system is turned on the RTC circuit is in an abnormally shutoff state and possibly needs to be reconfigured to restart it. Some RTC circuits require "jump starting" by pulling some of their lines up and then down abruptly. Perhaps, the BIOS wasn't restarting the logic because a bios "reset" hadn't occurred. On older systems the loss of a battery would result in the VRAM settings being killed so a restart of the RTC would always have been triggered then. In this case not necessarily so. Now, I don't know for sure if that that is what was happening, but the fact that your clock was not ticking in the BIOS suggests that the RTC is not oscillating. And as for within the OS, your RTC circuit does not necessarily need to be ticking to keep time there. There are other clock sources such as HPET and TSC to keep time with.

 

 

I have a similar problem.  New machine, keeps time only when not asleep.  As soon as it goes to sleep, the clock stops.  I changed the CMOS battery already - no change.  I looked at "time" from the command prompt and it is in sync with the clock in the taskbar - both wrong.  Windows 8, Gateway computer SX2865.  Can anyone tell me what to do next to troubleshoot?

Thanks!

I'm assuming the RTC circuit is not functioning correctly. You may be able to run diagnostic on the machine to see if it detects whether it is working (some machines have built in diagnostics). Try resetting your bios and also try clearing the settings via the jumper instead of the bios utility to see if you can "jump start" the RTC circuit. The circuit itself could simply be faulty. It may be ticking just fine during normal system operation (or it could be something like I wrote above), who knows.

 

Whenever I had RTC circuit issues in an old dell laptop, it would just warn me during the initial post and I'd pull the battery to get it working again.

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You have to create the key if your bios is in UTC - but since your local you don't need that key.

Never seen it from OFF state - OS should grab its time from bios on boot. So if your bios is correct, and your OS is booting from cold off it makes no sense that the clock would not be current upon boot. It being the time that it was put into standby/hibernate makes some sense - but OFF no.

you sure it didn't go into some standby mode vs OFF?

Turn it off - note time, leave it off for say 15 or so minutes - turn it on. Is the time correct or 15 minutes off?

Windows 8 doesn't turn off when you turn it off

I have a similar problem.  New machine, keeps time only when not asleep.  As soon as it goes to sleep, the clock stops.  I changed the CMOS battery already - no change.  I looked at "time" from the command prompt and it is in sync with the clock in the taskbar - both wrong.  Windows 8, Gateway computer SX2865.  Can anyone tell me what to do next to troubleshoot?

Thanks!

Laptop or desktop computer?

Mine randomly sets itself to EST timezone, when I'm supposed to be on GMT. Has happened 3 times since 8.1 came out, not sure how to replicate the issue.

Try to change the time server, though it should affect this. Also do you have more than one language in the tray selection ?

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You guys know this thread is from 2012..

 

Yeah and OP's issue was resolved back then after changing the CMOS battery. Now @djlee1387 is encountering the same problem, he must have searched the forums, found this thread and followed what everyone suggested back then but to no avail. So he especially registered and instead of creating a new thread, he posted in the same one from 2012. Case closed.  :shiftyninja:

 

But this thread is now active again I guess. Y'all should help @djlee1387.  :)

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No even if djlee has the exact same symptoms he should start his OWN thread.. Because the fix did not fix his issue. And its not the same exact symptoms from what he posted, since the OP said his time in his bios didn't even updaate. Which is NOT the case from what has been stated with the new poster.

"I have a similar problem."

He says he has changed his cmos battery, Which fixed the OP problem.. Not the case here.

Now you got mckay jumping in with something completely different then either the OP or the new now old thread necromancer thinks his issue is.

Here is the thing reading this thread, its quite possible to skip over the fact that you have a new user with what sure might be a similar type problem.. But no its not the exact same issue..

So reading through this thread is hard to distinguish between what the OP might have done and seen and what this new user has done and seen to troubleshoot his problem. Its also quite possible for many possible helpers to the issue to see oh 2012, some spammer dug it up no reason to read again, etc. And now new user gets no help or limited help, etc.

The CORRECT thing to do in this case, is start your OWN thread and reference older threads that are sim to your issue.. For example

Here is my problem xyz, I have tried ABC even tried replacing battery as thought my issue was the same as thread Xlink -- but no go, etc.

Only reason you should post to an OLD thread like this is to say hey I had the issue and this fixed my problem as well, thanks!

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You guys know this thread is from 2012..

Noooo, I should pay more attention to thread dates, I never notice once they are necro'd :-(

 

Also, I completely agree with what you said above.

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Yea, make a new thread, this doesn't sound like the same issue I had.

His problem doesn't indeed. But, you know what, since you read this years later, I hope the theoretical explanation makes some sense about why it could have occurred for you.

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His problem doesn't indeed. But, you know what, since you read this years later, I hope the theoretical explanation makes some sense about why it could have occurred for you.

 

Yep, it made sense once I did some extra background reading.  Thanks for the info.

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