date modified changed to apr 1 1976 / Norton not working

Sara,
Beware of Norton. Use Search here and you will find all sorts of tales of woe. It occurs to me you might have a Battery problem? If you are looking for a repair tool, try Disk Warrior. Have you tried booting from Tiger CD and running Disk Utility?

Don't use Norton Disk Doctor on any version of 10.4. It will kill it! Remove Norton Utilities from your 10.4 system! Symantec has given up supporting Macs.

You do not have a disk problem but do have a hardware problem, you need a new PRAM battery, that is what retains the date and time when a machine is off.

Hi Sara;

I would suggest you save your money Symantec is no longer supporting OS X with Norton Utilities.

Running an older version of Norton Utilities from any version of OS prior to OS X on a system with OS X install is almost a sure way of corrupting the OS X files. I would strongly suggest that you uninstall Norton Utilities as soon as possible.

Allan

Hi Allan

You are right to advise Sara to remove Norton Utilities: there is no adequate support from Symantec's own website, and the product will not reboot in OS X (10.3). However, their European support team eventually provided me with a refund when I asked for one for a non-functioning product.

But I have struggled to uninstall all of the programme: files like SymDC.kext remain in my system (/Systmem/Library/Extensions/SymDC.kext) and every time I boot up I get an error message telling me that this is corrupted. When I try to remove the file from my system I get another error message saying I 'do not have sufficient privileges for some of the items'. Any ideas?

TIA,
Tim

Hi Tim;

You could use the Terminal and enter the following command;

sudo rm /System/Library/Extension/SymDC.kext

This will ask for the administer's password. It will not show the password after you enter it. That should get rid of the file for you.

Allan

Sara,

usually this means that the battery that keeps the PRAM info is failing.

HI Allan

Many thanks for your advice. Although I used Terminal as you suggested - my first encounter with raw UNIX - it hasn't removed the file. I think I am right in assuming it is a Symantec file (hence SymDC) left over from the uninstalled Norton Utilities - could it be part of OSX? I'm still getting the warning message on boot-up.

All the best,
Tim

Hi Tim;

I don't understand why the "rm" failed to work. I know whenever I proceed the "rm" with "sudo" and then enter the administrator's password after that I have been able to delete any file.

The only other thing I can think of is maybe the file is busy. You can check in Activity Monitor for any process that look like they might be Symantec. If you find anything you think might be the guilty party post it here and we will help you further.

Allan

Hi Tim;

I did a little more research and found the following thread which talks about removing Norton. You may want to read this and see if it helps you.

Eme, "Darwin/BSD" #9, 05:25am Aug 8, 2005 CDT

Allan

Hi Allan

Really appreciate your commmitment to this community. Researching other threads was something I tried but failed to come up with anything constructive, while you've come up with something relevant straight away! In frustration I went for the apocalyptic solution: did an archived reinstall of OSX but then had to spend a while downloading the upgrades ...

It has removed the remnants of Norton Utilities, and I no longer the warning message, but it took a lot of unproductive time. I used the Symantec support instructions (via the links in the Darwin/BSD thread) to ensure I had got rid of all of it. Thanks again for your help.

Cheers,
Tim

Hi Tim;

You are welcome. That is what we are here for. Sorry to hear that you took out the shotgun to kill your problem.

You just have to love Symantec and their code. It is so invasive that it is a wonder it didn't cause more damage then it did.

Allan

I installed Tiger a few months ago and have found that the system periodically resets the clock to some time in 1976, and also that many OSX items have had their date created/ modified reset to "apr 1, 1976"

If the internal battery life becomes short, the date-time information stored by the system to the specified value will reset to January 1, 1904 for Mac OS 9 or January 1, 1970 for Mac OS X. However, your case is Apr 1, 1976. I figure out a possible reason to cause the issue can be either of followings:

1. The Tiger system files working for Date & Time information may have become cluttered with an unfamiliar third-party software which has not updated for Tiger software compatibility.

Note that Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger implements a new Calendar system for the OS Core Foundation for software developers as an Application Programming Interface.

Solution: "Archive and Install" or "Erase and Install" meanwhile, investigate a suspicious application on the Internet. If you cannot find the answer, install third-party application, one at a time to each restart the computer to test and identify the culprit.

2. Also, there is an area on the HFS Plus file system on the hard drive to interact with the Date & Time mechanism for Mac OS X. You may encounter hard drive's logical damage. If Norton Disk Doctor (no longer compatible with Tiger OS) would be capable to attempt a repair activity on the HFS file system, then it potentially could cause the issue.

Solution: Run Disk Utility. If it does not help, run DiskWarrior 3.0.3 boot-able disc.

3. Information for time zone setting may be corrupted.

Solution: Perform resetting the PRAM. If the issue persists, reset PMU (Power Management Unit) button on the logic board.

What's stored in PRAM

Resetting the PMU on the Logic Board... Please read this as a guidance only, because I do not see your computer's model.

4. The internal battery life has a real shortage. Sometime, a flaky phenomenon can occur contrary to the theory.

Solution: Turn off the computer. Remove the installed battery. Install the replacement battery.

Batteries and Part Numbers information... An internal battery life normally ends within 3 to 5 years-- It all depends on computer specifications and how frequently you unplug the power cord.

5. Date and time functions for an Ethernet router (if you use it) may have some problem, and it could cause the issue.

Solution: Open the device configuration by an Internet browser and check it.

6. A clock chip failure on the logic board might occur.

Solution: This is the last thing you'll troubleshoot.

Hope this helps.

Hi Allan
You mean it could have been WORSE? I think I've had a close shave, but never again ...
Cheers,
Tim