Macos Catalina Time synchronization not happening

Question

Level 1

29 points

Macos Catalina Time synchronization not happening

My Mac's clock is continually drifting. Even though I have the option selected to automatically synchronize its time, it drifts higher than it should (sometimes by several minutes). I get no notifications that the time sync isn't working. I've tried turning the option off and on. How can I:

1) see any errors related to time synchronization

2) fix any issues that have to do with the time daemon not syncing with the server.

This gets annoying because I post things "from the future" in some services, and file times sometimes are in the future, which can affect certain applications poorly.

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on Sep 26, 2020 7:11 AM

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Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

124,304 points

Sep 26, 2020 9:43 AM in response to schveiguy2

Review the sntp(1) man page:

man sntp

and then run the following command-line item in the Terminal. It will report your local time, the GMT offset, and a ± time error:

sntp time.apple.com

The sntp command also has a means to adjust your local time to the time server.

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Answer 2

dialabrain

Level 10

136,475 points

Sep 26, 2020 8:00 AM in response to schveiguy2

You could try a different time server. I use…

time.nist.gov

Just type it in.

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Answer 3

Sep 26, 2020 7:41 AM in response to schveiguy2

Tell us how are the settings of your Preferences > Date & Time:

Here in Munich I have:

Date & Time: "Set date and time automatically" Apple Europe ...

Time Zone: Munich Germany

Some Language & Region Settings may be wrong too.

Best greetings from rainy Munich

marek

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Answer 4

schveiguy2 Author

Level 1

29 points

Sep 26, 2020 8:16 AM in response to dialabrain

I'll try that at some point, but stabbing in the dark is not very satisfactory. But I still would like to shine some light on the process. If I understand correctly, apple abandoned standard NTP clients for its own homegrown stuff. And I don't know where to look to see "error cannot get time from ..." or "synced time with ..."

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Answer 5

VikingOSX

Level 10

124,304 points

Sep 26, 2020 10:09 AM in response to schveiguy2

However, it appears that timed is not working for you, or your time would be synchronized correctly.

Like dialabrain, I have never experienced any time synchronization issues during the years I have been running OS X/macOS, regardless whether I use Apple's Time server, or those from NIST.

The sntp command can query NTP and SNTP time servers, and set the local time based on either. I agree that you don't want this to be a manual operation, but I lack the hands-on experience with failing time server data to be of any further help to you.

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Answer 6

schveiguy2 Author

Level 1

29 points

Sep 26, 2020 8:03 AM in response to dialabrain

Thanks, I tried doing that. The time is still wrong (how do I force it to do a sync?).

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Answer 7

dialabrain

Level 10

136,475 points

Sep 26, 2020 8:06 AM in response to schveiguy2

You're welcome. I have no idea how to force a sync. I've never had to in decades.

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Answer 8

schveiguy2 Author

Level 1

29 points

Sep 26, 2020 9:47 AM in response to VikingOSX

But Catalina (and Mojave) don't use sntp (they use timed). I don't want to have to manually run a command periodically.

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Answer 9

willi272

Level 1

8 points

Sep 26, 2020 10:13 AM in response to schveiguy2

Agreed

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Answer 10

schveiguy2 Author

Level 1

29 points

Sep 26, 2020 6:38 PM in response to schveiguy2

Just an update, over 12 hours later, and using time.nist.gov is not working any better (still off by the same amount).

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Answer 11

schveiguy2 Author

Level 1

29 points

Sep 26, 2020 7:47 AM in response to Marek Stepanek

Set date and time automatically is checked.

Server: Apple Americas/U.S. (time.apple.com.)

Time Zone: set time zone automatically using current location is checked, and it accurately identifies New York as the closest location.

Oh, and nothing in the language and region settings looks incorrect either.

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Answer 12

Sep 26, 2020 12:49 PM in response to schveiguy2

hmmm. Did you try in save mode? (Start with Shift - takes longer, but all non Apple Extensions are disabled). I am stumbled. Reinstall of Catalina?

Sorry have no idea what this could be.

Good evening

marek

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Answer 13

Sep 26, 2020 12:54 PM in response to Marek Stepanek

This is funny! I am not often here! clicking on reply in my Mail-Client, I see the many very savvy answers only after my reply. Congrats to Viking. You are a pro! Did not know the command of sntp (and I am constantly in my shell).

So sorry for the noise.

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