Mac (version sonoma 14.1.1) gave me wrong date and time when setting it to automatic

Of course after trying everything suggested on the internet, nothing worked. Until I've tried this (credits to apple support team):

  1. open terminal
  2. type in this command: sudo rm /var/db/timed/com.apple.timed.plist
  3. press return. you'll get that you have to enter your password.
  4. enter password (note that the password will not be showing on the screen while typing).
  5. then try going back to settings and set the date and time to automatic. it should work.


note that if it didn't work and you got a message on the terminal "command not found" or some kind of error then boot your mac in safe mode and then repeat all of the above steps in safe mode. then restart your mac to normal mode.

hope it works. it worked on my mac.

if all of the above didn't work, try contacting apple support.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 14.1

Posted on Nov 11, 2023 2:37 AM

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Posted on Nov 20, 2023 3:56 AM

Thank you for the inspiration! It worked for me with some minor adjustments. If you encounter an error like "no such file or directory" or similar, as I did, there's no need to boot your Mac into safe mode. Simply enter superuser mode by running the following command:


sudo su


Enter your password and then run command that @AymanDemachkie specified:


rm /var/db/timed/com.apple.timed.plist


Restart your mac and apply Automatic date and time again and enjoy the real time :)

49 replies

Dec 6, 2023 8:01 AM in response to AymanDemachkie

Well, my M1 Mac mini is running macOS Sonoma 14.2.I have Location Services turn on. Regardless, it's has the incorrect time. I tried several times to manually set the time. However, it seems to reset the time on every boot.


NOTE:

My system doesn't show any options for setting the time to CST. The Time zone is hard-set (unchangeable) from PST. It shows CA, NV, and Mexico (West Coast) ONLY as the closest city. Regardless to me living near Canada, its keeps defaulting to PST Cupertino, CA.


What exactly is the point of Location Services again?

Nov 25, 2023 7:09 AM in response to shankha167

None of the steps suggested in here or the original post worked for me. I had to manually over-ride the clock otherwise it won't even let me browse! I tried other NTP servers and it's still the same! This is a critical bug!! This happened to me twice and it messed up my document save dates! How is it that Apple does not know this?


My battery also dies if I leave it unplugged overnight on a full charge! Any other leads?

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Mac (version sonoma 14.1.1) gave me wrong date and time when setting it to automatic

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