windows clock --- curious behaviour

My windows XP clock has started behaving curiously. Won't hold the time. Could it be the battery? If so, how do I check, and change it? (my pc is 3 years old)

The odd aspect is that yesterday I downloaded the

There is a link between windows activation and the clock because if it detects that the clock time has changed then it will lock you out of using windows during the activation period.

Now if you say it is only hours which are acting strangely then maybe it is synchronising with another timezone..

Try setting to UK timezone then force a time sync. I doubt it would be the battery if the pc is only 3 years old. Double click the clock in the corner and press update now.

Also i assume you dont have any freeware time syncronisation programs or anything ?

If in doubt buy a new battery (always handy to have a new CMOS battery around), they aren't expensive and you won't need to put it in if other options work, you'll just know you have a reserve. I've just been through one battery in two months, thinks me mobo's packing in, the first battery lasted 15 years.

CMOS battery lifetime IIRC is around the 5 year mark

It loses hours AND minutes if the pc is powered down. As though the battery were dead......

If I set it to synchronise via the internet then the next synch is days away (four). On my wife's pc hers, as it happens right now, is only one day hence. By this I mean that both pc's AT THE SAME MOMENT will synch to different times ahead

I am sure I have in the distant past read summat about this. Is there a way that the clock can be commanded to synch with some reliable time-teller, via the internet, every time one powers up & goes on-line? The sort of freebie that the likes of Tucows offers? Bruce +++

Thanks Lorentzia. Have you time (no pun) to tell me how to change the battery? Is it on the motherboard? Thanx, Bruce +++

Have forced the system-tray clock to synch with an internet server --- and it does. Time continues to be correct all the while the pc is alive.

Have been to "Power Settings" but there is no tab for "battery alarm" even though putting "battery" into the Windows search facility indicates there should be such a tab. Exploring all tabs reveals nowt. The same answer-set also tells me that internet-synching is done only once a week. Funny the battery (which I thought was recharged anyway) should die at the same time as I did my WGA key-activation?

btw, my Asus mobo manual silent on battery. Bruce +++

What you are looking at is battery power for laptops, the mobo battery is unrelated.

As Lorentzia says, replacing the battery is very cheap and simple, much easier to just replace it if in doubt. Having a program to sync the clock whenever you boot up is not the answer as you will lose motherboard settings and it will also cause lots of programs to refuse to work which rely on a proper clock setting.

Basically disconnect power supply, take case off, pop old battery out, put new battery in. put case back on. Done

This link will tell you how http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/81

It should be on the motherboard. It looks like the new 10p coin in a coin holder. Look at it and it should be marked as a 30 or 32 or 34?? (from memory & you know what memory is like). Replace like with like. You can get a replacement for around a

it should be fairly obvious on the motherboard, a button cell battery, and it should just pop out ready for the new one to snap in (this will reset all your Bios settings)

http://www.worldtimeserver.com/atomic-clock/
Bruce,
try atomic clock on the site above,
mal76

Here is a picture of his Mobo with the battery marked. BruceThief they are a doddle to change.

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/4195/mbcg2.png

Just in case you need it, the battery code is CR2032

Keeping fingers crossed. Got new CMOS battery at

In reply to:

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Was the battery dead? Dunno. Checked my sound scheme and yes I have set it to sound an alarm when the battery is critical. But it never sounded.

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This is for laptop batteries, it is nothing to do with the CMOS/time battery

Tell us how it goes..

To wrap this up, my desktop pc (tower, not laptop) is now AOK. Clock fixed, new CMOS battery did the deed. Motherboard bought August 2002 battery presumably then brandnew.

Understand that the EPROM needs battery power at boot. It certainly was not an in-out job --- done & switch on again 10 minutes after poweringdown --- as it restarted in Safe Mode with answers to difficult questions demanded (I settled for it loading defaults).

I post this to tell my readership the final result & to say thanx to respondents, 'tis what these Forums are all about. Bruce +++