Ridiculous inaccuracy after booting windows 8.1

Hello!

It started happening weeks/months ago, and it happens like half the time. The inaccuracy is brutal. It's usually hours but sometimes its more. One time it was two days in the future, showing the first of next month...

I notice it because I have 1st clock syncing with a time server every log-in and it warns if the difference is more than a minute.

The issue is not because of time servers or 1st Clock, because I've been using them for years. (tried changing servers anyways)

I thought about the battery running out, but it doesn't seem likely. Sometimes the PC is off for a lot more than usual, yet time remains accurate, other times it's only off for the usual time and get the inaccuracy

Other people seemed to have similar issues. Fast boot was mentioned. But mine doesn't seem to be related to it. I recently turned it off, not because of this, but because it works like crap.

How old is the computer ?

Maybe the CMOS battery is going bad. ?

I found this quote about CMOS batteries---

Look for incorrect or changing time settings. One function of the CMOS is maintaining system time. If the CMOS battery is failing, you may notice invalid times showing within the operating system, such as on the clock at the bottom right of your monitor. This symptom is confirmed if time resets after the computer system is restarted. Under these circumstances, the CMOS battery should be replaced.

Read more : How to Check the CMOS Battery | eHow

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CMOS batteries are very inexpensive and relatively easy to replace. If it was me I'd put a new one in just to rule it out as the cause.

I have seen situations where booting to another OS could cause time problems.

But I suppose you need to make sure the Bios Clock is correct, then check the Time Zone and lastly set the time. You may want to turn off the syncing for testing and see if it stabilizes.

Thanks for the tips.

alphanumeric said:

CMOS batteries are very inexpensive and relatively easy to replace. If it was me I'd put a new one in just to rule it out as the cause.

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Well, if nothing else comes up, I might do it.

Well, if nothing else comes up, I might do it.

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I say waiting for something else to come up is a mistake. As noted, these batteries less than $1.50 each so the risk of wasting your money is next to nothing. But the risk of corrupting critical system files, your boot drive and all your data because the system time is so far off is MUCH greater!

Gracefully shutdown Windows and power off the computer. Unplug the computer from the wall, touch bare metal of the case interior to discharge any static in your body BEFORE reaching in, then pull the battery and get another. You can get a new battery at just about any battery/watch/camera counter at your local home improvement or discount store. Most likely it is a CR2032 or equivalent but take the old battery with you as many battery counters recycle.

Do NOT touch the new battery with your bare skin as skin oils promote corrosion and attract dust. I put a clean sock over my hand. Be sure to touch bare metal again before reaching in. Then clean the interior, including heatsinks, fans, and vents of heat trapping dust while in there.

Connect power and upon first boot, go straight into the BIOS Setup Menu and set your date and time, verify your drives are detected and the boot order is correct. Then Save and Exit to boot normally. The "Save" part is very important.

If still having problems, you are only out a couple dollars, but you have eliminated the primary suspect - and sadly, if the problem is still there, you have probably identified the problem as a failing motherboard.

Since beginning electronics service almost 35 years ago I learned that you always check the simple things first. And it is better to make the test rather than trying to rationalize why it can't be the problem. Unless you are dual booting with a non Microsoft OS, such as Linux, time problems as described are usually caused by the CMOS battery. The problem then is that Windows considers the CMOS clock as representing local time while in Linux it is usually UTC. In that case the time difference would be consistent and repeatable. That doesn't appear to be the case here.

The fact that the computer is relatively new makes it less likely that the CMOS battery is bad. But even in a new computer I would still consider it the #1 possibility. The computer may be new but you can't be sure the battery is. And new batteries do fail. And considering that it is so easy and inexpensive that should be the first thing to try. And you don't want to think about the next most likely possibility, a bad motherboard.

LMiller7 said:

And you don't want to think about the next most likely possibility, a bad motherboard.

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The next most likely is a windows snafu in my opinion. Particularly because there are some similar threads around.

Make sure you have all the windows updates as this issue was also addressed in an update - assuming it is not the battery, for which is also possible

The next most likely is a windows snafu in my opinion. Particularly because there are some similar threads around.

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It sounds like you are in denial and I fail to understand why.

Similar threads mean little - unless they involved the exact same hardware and circumstances. And considering there are MANY MANY similar threads where replacing the CMOS battery fixed the problem, you really need to eliminate a bad or failing battery as the possible cause.

And for the record, while these batteries "should" last for several years, I have on more than one occasion had a bad battery right out of the packaging.

Remember, Windows is not even touched until the BIOS POST (power on self-test) is completed and the boot drive is accessed. If you boot into the BIOS Setup Menu and the date and time are wrong, pretty hard to blame Windows.