iCal replacing Eastern time with UTC, four hours off

Question

Level 1

119 points

iCal replacing Eastern time with UTC, four hours off

Yesterday I finally set up iCal on my MacBook Pro. I entered maybe a couple of dozen events over the next four months.

Today I started up and found most (not all) my events with a specific start/end time switched from U.S. Eastern to UTC, four hours off.

Any ideas on what's caused this? And what I need to do differently to prevent it from happening again?

I found this thread that involves a UTC problem with a web calendar, but it's not the same:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7104429

Most other resources I've found on this are too technical for me to grok.

I did subscribe to two calendars: US Holidays and Musician Birthdays. Might one of those somehow scramble time codes in iCal?

One source seemed to suggest using floating zone instead of designating Eastern. Anyone have any input on whether that might help? (Remember, I'm less than one day into iCal, so my little knowledge is heavily outweighed by my ignorance.)

Thanks,
cb

MacBook Pro 15, Mac OS X (10.5.6), 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB 1067 MHz DDR3

Posted on May 20, 2009 1:32 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Ferd II

Level 10

104,871 points

May 20, 2009 1:42 PM in response to chuck50dc

cb,

Have you specified U.S. Eastern in time zone support?

If not open iCal>Preferences...>Advanced and choose "Turn on time zone support," and select the appropriate time zone.

;~)

Reply

Answer 2

chuck50dc Author

Level 1

119 points

May 20, 2009 2:36 PM in response to Ferd II

Hi, Ferd,

Yep, it's still checked. Thanks, though.

Reply

Answer 3

Ferd II

Level 10

104,871 points

May 20, 2009 2:43 PM in response to chuck50dc

cb,

Next go to System Preferences...>International>Formats>Region: Reselect appropriate region.

Then System Preferences...>Date & Time>Time Zone: Reselect appropriate region.

Log out/in or restart.

I forgot to answer this question in your first post:

I did subscribe to two calendars: US Holidays and Musician Birthdays. Might one of those somehow scramble time codes in iCal?

I don't think so.

;~)

Reply

Answer 4

chuck50dc Author

Level 1

119 points

May 20, 2009 3:16 PM in response to Ferd II

Did 'em. I have to get out of the office now (having just done a last e-mail check before leaving). I'll see what's up tomorrow morning. Thanks very much.

Reply

Answer 5

Ferd II

Level 10

104,871 points

May 20, 2009 3:21 PM in response to chuck50dc

cb,

Perhaps, someone will provide you with other options by that time.

Are you using any sync software?

;~)

Reply

Answer 6

chuck50dc Author

Level 1

119 points

May 20, 2009 7:25 PM in response to Ferd II

No sync, no Mobile Me. I did find a couple of other posts in which the sync process seemed to frug it up. And I've heard similar problems on Mac Geek Gab.

Speaking VERY tentatively, it's looking better. I got home, restarted, and so far it all looks OK. I'll enter a few more events tonight, change a couple of the others, shut down, and see again tomorrow morning. If it all checks out clean Thursday morning, you'll find a lovely little star on your cyberspace doorstep.

Good to know these things -- the usual generic fixes for various apps and system issues.

Thanks. Check back Thursday morning.

cb

Reply

Answer 7

chuck50dc Author

Level 1

119 points

May 21, 2009 11:49 AM in response to Ferd II

At least now most of the time corrections seem to have stuck. A couple of them did change again, and a few went back to UTC (but with the correct time).

And, oddly, a few of them now display "America/New York." I had selected that on a few before standardizing on US/Eastern (or at least I thought I did.) I'll reset all the prefs again and see what happens.

I'd like to know if anyone else reading has had this or similar problems, and if anyone else knows of any variables that could affect it.

Thanks,
cb

Reply

Answer 8

Ferd II

Level 10

104,871 points

May 21, 2009 12:10 PM in response to chuck50dc

cb,

Try refreshing the the com.apple.iCal.plist file. You will find the com.apple.iCal.plist file in your Macintosh HD/Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences Folder. Drag the file to your Desktop, log out/in or restart.

;~)

Reply

Answer 9

chuck50dc Author

Level 1

119 points

May 23, 2009 7:19 AM in response to Ferd II

Hey again!

The other resets seem to have pretty well resolved it -- with the occasional persistent exception. Probably that relates to something I input originally. My next idea was to go looking for a .plist, so thanks for specifying it. Overall, I'm content enough with it now. I appreciate your help and I'll hit that "solved" button shortly.

Thanks again!
Chuck

Reply

Answer 10

Ferd II

Level 10

104,871 points

May 23, 2009 3:15 PM in response to chuck50dc

Glad to help.

;~)

Reply