Auto time set reinstall

Question

Auto time set reinstall

A day or so ago, when I was booting up my computor, an error box appeared (and I'm going to try to remember exactly what it said) that reported the auto time set feature was not working, and it directed me to use the system software to reinstall it.

This happened about three times and then the message seems to have stopped appearing.

Then today the power was out for about two hours while we were out of the house. I forgot about it happening but then I noticed that the computor clock was 2 hours slow and I remembered the error message. I reset the correct time, but now I am wondering if there is something I need to fix.

So how do you reinstall just one part of the 9.2.2 software? or is that even a part of the 9.2.2 software?

Thanks,

JTB

Cube G4, Mac OS 9.2.x

Posted on Oct 30, 2007 8:02 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 31, 2007 1:50 AM in response to Lawrence Cate

Hi, JTB -

The computer's time being off by a couple of hours could indicate the internal battery needs replacing.

Be sure that the extension named Time Synchronizer is enabled (checkmarked) in Extensions Manager control panel.

You may also need to throw away the preference file named Date & Time Preferences (which can be found in the Preferences folder in System Folder), and then restart. A new prefs file will be created automatically; it will have default settings, so you would then need to redo any preferred choices in the Date & Time control panel.

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Answer 2

Oct 31, 2007 1:51 PM in response to Lawrence Cate

Check this site for battery part numbers and sources.
Mac PRAM, NVRAM, CUDA/PMU & Battery Tutorial
http://www.geocities.com/texas_macman/pram.html

 Cheers, Tom 😉

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Answer 3

Nov 2, 2007 5:38 PM in response to Texas Mac Man

Yesterday I noticed that the computer clock time was one hour off again, so I reset it. The same thing happened again today, and it was one hour off to the minute. I thought how can it be exactly one hour off. So I went to the time control panel and checked the daylight savings time button, and the clock reset to the right time. So that tells me that the clock was keeping the right time. It was simply using the old change date to set it's self back one hour. But it also would seem the note the computer gave me was correct. It is no longer capable of getting the correct time from an outside source. The computer had told me to reinstall the software that does this. Do you still think it is the battery?

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Answer 4

Nov 3, 2007 12:20 AM in response to Lawrence Cate

Hi, Lawrence -

The "Set Daylight-Saving Time Automatically" option will no longer work correctly, since the effective date (at least for the end of DST) has been changed a week or so from what had been programmed into the software (DST in the US used to end the last Sunday in October; now it is the first Sunday in November). This would account for it being off exactly an hour, and would not indicate the battery needs replacing.

Did you check to see if the extension Time Synchronizer was enabled?

The only other software the machine needs in order to get the correct time from an outside source is the standard software needed to get on the internet, and a connection - if you can access the internet from that machine, all of that software is in place and working. You might try selecting a different server from which to collect the time hack - you make that choice in the Date & Time control panel, "Use a Network Time Server" - click the Server Options button.

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Answer 5

Nov 12, 2007 7:35 AM in response to Don Archibald

Don,

I went to the time control panel, as you suggested, and I reset the time one hour ahead of the correct time. Then I checked the box that said reset time automatically if the computer time is different from the server time. Then I closed the box and waited, and sure enough - the clock reset to the correct time. So I conclude the auto-set feature is working, and I've never seen that error message anymore. I don't know what happened that caused the error message, But the problem is seemingly solved. I really want to thank you for helping me understand how it works. 🙂

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Answer 6

Nov 12, 2007 12:31 PM in response to Lawrence Cate

Hi, Lawrence -

You're quite welcome - glad you got it corrected.

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