Clock display is always "PM"

Question

Level 1

9 points

Clock display is always "PM"

Now this is crazy. The digital view clock in the upper right of my display always says "PM". So, I Open Date and Time, I have "Set Time Automatically" selected, annd the Digital Clock says PM, the Analog clock right below it has an "AM" in the center of it.
So, I deselect "Set Time Automatically"; I can modify Hours, Minutes, and Seconds, but the PM is not selectable. iCal time is correct, Mail time stamps are correct, everything appears correct except the upper right corner always reads PM. Weird.

iMac Intel Core 2 Duo, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Jan 2, 2008 7:34 AM

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Answer 1

rhino67 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 28, 2008 10:56 AM in response to rhino67

O.K. I've stumped every Apple support rep so far, so it will take real "Geek" power to solve this. Some amplifying info and what Apple reps have suggested:
Menu Bar Digital Clock always says PM. On System Preference the Digital Clock says PM, the Analog clock right below it has an "AM" in the center of it (during AM Hours). Under the Clock tab on System Preference, the selection, "Show AM/PM" is gray and and unavailable. Most irritating is the effect on my iCal where I cannot select AM to change appointments that occur in the PM. On iCal Preferences where you select Start and stop times for your day, Start time starts at Midnight and goes to noon with all AM times in between. That's good. When you select Stop Time, It starts at Noon and goes to Midnight, but all the hours in between are AM times (Short days!!!)

PRAM restart - No Effect
Remove Menu Bar Clock PLIST from User/library/preference/PLIST; Restart - No Effect
Remove entire PLIST from User/library/preference/PLIST; Restart - No Effect (Kept in a folder on Desktop and reinserted after no effect re-start).
Repair disk permissions - No Effect
Log out as user, create test user, log in as test user - Fixes all problems!!!!
Repair disk permissions from Leopard Start up disk - No Effect
Archive and Install - No effect

That's where I am right now. Working with Apple reps takes hours to work up to someone who seems to have some knowledge. Just thought I would throw it back out to the Forum.

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Answer 2

baltwo

Level 9

62,406 points

Jan 28, 2008 11:31 AM in response to rhino67

Since it works in the new user account, I suspect a corrupt plist. See the steps I posted for resolving conflicts/corrupt plists within an account at:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4703015

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Answer 3

rhino67 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 28, 2008 12:59 PM in response to baltwo

First, thanks for the help. Gave it a shot. No change.
Is there a way to create a second user and cary all my stuff over and have it be the same?

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Answer 4

baltwo

Level 9

62,406 points

Jan 28, 2008 1:29 PM in response to rhino67

That's the hard way. Simpler is to boot into another admin user account, delete the original, *saving its data* (put into a .dmg file inside /Users/Deleted Users/, recreate the account using the same username/password combo, log into it, open the .dmg file, and slowly move things from the saved data to the newly recreated account.

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Answer 5

rhino67 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 28, 2008 1:46 PM in response to baltwo

Kinda went above my head with that .dmg file, and under users all I have us myself and a folder titled "Shared". Am I correct that when I delete the user, the computer will create a Deleted User with a .dmg file inside?
Will I be able to move e-mail and my applications over?

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Answer 6

baltwo

Level 9

62,406 points

Jan 28, 2008 1:59 PM in response to rhino67

The .dmg is a disk image file created, along with the Deleted Users subfolder, when you delete an account and save its data. As for your mail stuff, certainly. There shouldn't be any applications if you did a normal installation. All of those are in /Applications.

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Answer 7

xnav

Level 5

7,113 points

Jan 28, 2008 3:01 PM in response to rhino67

Have you tried running for a day in 24 hour mode with 'Show am/pm' off?

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Answer 8

rhino67 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 29, 2008 6:35 AM in response to baltwo

Baltwo - I like your idea and it makes sense. I will probably execute on Thursday if I have not heard back from An Apple Care rep in Sacramento who recommended the Archive & Install. He gave me his e-mail address and asked for a follow up, which I have sent.

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Answer 9

rhino67 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 29, 2008 6:38 AM in response to xnav

No can do. Display AM/PM is gray and unselectable. I can select 24 Hr clock, but PM remains displayed in Menu Bar.

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Answer 10

baltwo

Level 9

62,406 points

Jan 29, 2008 9:42 AM in response to rhino67

Open the Date & Time prefPane, select Clock tab, select Show date & time in menu bar, and select Digital. That should activate the Show AM/PM option. If not, move the com.apple.MenuBarClock.plist and com.apple.iCal.helper.plist files out of /username/Library/Preferences/ to the Desktop, log out and back in, open the Date & Time prefPane, and reset your options.

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Answer 11

rhino67 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 29, 2008 10:30 AM in response to baltwo

No luck. I actually did this twice. First time just as you said. Second time I deselected Show Date & Time in Menu Bar and deselected Set Date & Time automatically.
All the defects in my first post persist.

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Answer 12

rhino67 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 29, 2008 10:35 AM in response to baltwo

In /username/Library/Safe Preferences/ there is a plist called "com.apple.scheduler.plist". Do you have any idea what Safe Preferences are?

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Answer 13

rhino67 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 29, 2008 2:56 PM in response to rhino67

A super Apple Product Service Tech named Woody walked (led) me through setting up a new user then bringing all my stuff over using the Shared folder. He really did a good job. My clock works and iCAl as well.

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Answer 14

baltwo

Level 9

62,406 points

Jan 29, 2008 4:00 PM in response to rhino67

Thanks for the feedback. BTW, I don't have anything entitled Safe Preferences on my machine, so I can't help with that. Glad you fixed the problem. Woody's fix is very similar to what I suggested early on. Good computing.

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Answer 15

rhino67 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 29, 2008 5:11 PM in response to baltwo

You are absolutely correct, except I didn't have th guts to go through with it until I had someone holding my hand. Thanks for your help.

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