Date reads as December 31, 1969, and March 21, 2001. What's wrong?

Question

Date reads as December 31, 1969, and March 21, 2001. What's wrong?

My PowerBook G4 has all of a sudden had a date problem. It changed to read "December 31, 1969." I received a message that, "Your computer's clock is set to a date before 2001. This may cause some applications to behave erratically."

I then restarted and the date changed to March, 21, 2001, with the following message:
"Your computer's clock is set to a date before March 24, 2001. This may cause some applications to behave erratically. Please use the Date & Time preference panel to set the clock manually. For more information, chose Mac Help from the Help menu."

I then went online, and set my date and time in the system preferences to update automatically and the date did get back to the correct date of today.

The fact that this happened concerns me and I would like to do everything to assure that I have a healthy computer. What happened, what is the problem and is there something that needs to be repaired or done to assure a happy running PB?

Thanks.

PowerBook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Jul 6, 2008 9:02 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

iBod

Level 7

29,345 points

Jul 6, 2008 9:12 AM in response to Tara Hollander

It's possible that your backup battery had discharged and lost the date/time settings:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=30017

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Answer 2

Jul 6, 2008 2:09 PM in response to iBod

Thanks for the reply and apple article on how to test the backup battery. I have done this and the date is accurately showing today's date and time. Does this mean all is well? Thanks again. Tara

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

239,213 points

Jul 6, 2008 2:32 PM in response to Tara Hollander

No, it gets set correctly via the Internet usually once booted up, but causes problems during bootup sometimes.

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Answer 4

Jul 6, 2008 3:20 PM in response to BDAqua

I understand that the internet correctly sets the time and made sure not to be connected to the internet in any form when I booted up after the test of taking out the battery and unplugging the power adapter for 10 minutes. So when it booted and told the correct time, it was doing so off the battery, not the internet. Yes, I understand that the battery may be losing charge even though this short 10 minute test "passed." Is there any definitive Apple articles that connect a weak back-up battery to an ethernet port not recognizing ethernet cables? I need to know whether to replace the backup battery, and, whether that will also fix my ethernet problem.

Thanks to all contributors, still uncertain on final steps to take.

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Answer 5

Jul 6, 2008 4:44 PM in response to Tara Hollander

I need to know whether to replace the backup battery, and, whether that will also fix my ethernet problem.

What ethernet problem? You didn't mention this before.

If you are at all unsure about your battery, replace it. It is an inexpensive item.

Then let us know what problems you are having with your ethernet.

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Answer 6

Jul 6, 2008 5:14 PM in response to Michael Conniff

Thanks for your post, I am grateful. I will look into purchasing a new backup battery tomorrow. To answer your question, I am also having an ethernet port problem and thought the two issues separate and thus posted them separately on the Discussions. The back-up battery problem and ethernet problem may, after reading replies, seem to merge or be related, but as I know posts and replies need to be fitting to the topic, here is the URL to my specific issue and question (unanswered at the moment) about what is causing my ethernet port not to recognize a plugged in ethernet cable.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1586861&tstart=0

Thanks.

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Answer 7

BDAqua

Level 10

239,213 points

Jul 6, 2008 5:35 PM in response to Tara Hollander

Wait on the PB battery, I think they might use expensive ones... Michael is very, very good on this! 🙂

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