MacBook Pro running Sonoma reverting to wrong date & time

There are several threads about this subject, and a solution has been offered there:

1) run the following command in Terminal

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

and type your password as requested.

2) reboot

was able to fix it following Luis Sequiera1’s instructions but for those who have brain farts like me, here’s a bit more detail:

1 Open Terminal app (go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal) and type the following:

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

2 Press Return. You will be prompted to enter your password. You will not see the password as it is being typed.

3 Press Return to run the command (you won’t see anything change on the screen, but it’s working its magic)

4 Restart the Mac

5 Go to System Settings > General > Date & Time > Set time and date automatically (I had to click on 24-hour time, which is what I originally had it on - and voi la!)

I've had this issue for days, trying every solution posted with multiple reboots however only one thing seemed to work for me.

Ir. Bob said to try using ' sudo rm -f /private/var/db/timed/com.apple.timed.plist ' instead of sudo rm /var/db/timed/com.apple.timed.plist which seemed to work for me using the below instructions from fangirl3121

Note: Before running the below instructions, I had 'Set date & time automatically' turned off

1 Open Terminal app (go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal) and type the following:

sudo rm -f /private/var/db/timed/com.apple.timed.plist

2 Press Return. You will be prompted to enter your password. You will not see the password as it is being typed.

3 Press Return to run the command (you won’t see anything change on the screen, but it’s working its magic)

4 Restart the Mac

5 Go to System Settings > General > Date & Time > Set time and date automatically (I had to click on 24-hour time, which is what I originally had it on - and voila!)

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

Ok this is how I fixed it after hours of trying different Terminal command all of them were not existing, illegal action (I don't know what does that mean) and File not found.

was able to fix it following Luis Sequiera1’s instructions but for those who have brain farts like me, here’s a bit more detail:

1 Turn off "Set time and date automatically"

2 Open Terminal app (go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal) and type the following:

sudo rm -f /private/var/db/timed/com.apple.timed.plist

(NOTICE THERE'S A SPACE BETWEEN -f /private!!!!)

3 Press Return. You will be prompted to enter your password. You will not see the password as it is being typed.

4 Press Return to run the command (you won’t see anything change on the screen, but it’s working its magic)

5 Restart the Mac

6 Go to System Settings > General > Date & Time > Set time and date automatically (I had to click on 24-hour time, which is what I originally had it on - and voi la!)

I'm just copying this answer, which seems to answer the question. I honestly understand terminal but not how this discussion thread is supposed to read. So, here it is, with the context you need.

Lew

fangirl3121 has posted in the macOS Sonoma community.

Mac keep reverting to wrong date & time

was able to fix it following Luis Sequiera1’s instructions but for those who have brain farts like me, here’s a bit more detail:

1 Open Terminal app (go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal) and type the following:

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

2 Press Return. You will be prompted to enter your password. You will not see the password as it is being typed.

3 Press Return to run the command (you won’t see anything change on the screen, but it’s working its magic)

4 Restart the Mac

5 Go to System Settings > General > Date & Time > Set time and date automatically (I had to click on 24-hour time, which is what I originally had it on - and voila!)

I JUST had the same issue with my 2020 Air, too. Please be sure to verify that it isn't user specific. In order to do this, create a guest account and restart your computer. If you log into the guest account and the time is still off, there is an issue with your user profile. Unfortunately, I went to the Apple Store and spent an hour with a genius trying to narrow it down (at that point I was on the Beta software and reverted to the public software with the same issue). The only solution was to format my device and start over from a backup. After the factory reset, it was working as intended.

It's been about a month or so, and the issue came back. I tried the terminal commands "sudo rm /var/db/timed/com.apple.timed.plist", reset my computer twice. It now works.

You can also try different servers (time.google.com, etc.)

Best of luck :)

Did you try running the terminal command Luis suggested above, then restarting?

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

1. System settings-->General-->Date and Time--> Turn off automatically set date and time
2. Goto Mactintosh HD
3. Push Command/Shift/Period
4. Now hidden folders are opened
5. Double click var folder and double click db folder
6. Find timed folder and right click/get info
7. Unlock (bottom right)
8. Click on everyone and select read & write
9. Go back and open timed folder
10. Delete com.apple.timed/plist folder
11. Restart computer
12. Go back to Date and Time settings as described in #1 and make sure set time/date automatically is selected
13. Click on 24-time to turn on and then click to turn off
14. Time is now accurate and you can either leave it on 24-hour time or regular time

Same happened with my 13-inch, 2019 Air. Earlier today, it was showing 12:40pm 9 December 2023 (ps: It is 23rd December today.) Ran Terminal and put in this command: sudo rm /var/db/timed/com.apple.timed.plist.- password - restart.

Yes, it's now showing the right time and date. (23 Sat Dec 10:38am)

Ten days ago was my first encounter, woke up in Dec but it was showing 13 October 2023.

This seems to be a reoccurring issue of late.

In fact, both times, my Air wasn't able to connect to wifi upon restarting the laptop. Not a common scene.

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

thanks to all who suggested this, my problem is solved.

Thank you! Removing

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

helped.

My wife and I have matching MacBook Pros, bought in 2020. Hers just had this bug. The fix posted here did nothing, however updating from Sonoma 14.1.1 to 14.2.1 appears to have done the trick. 👍

None414 wrote:

I’ve tried this step but it says command not found.

Is there anything else I could do to troubleshoot?

As Ir. Bob said, you made a typing error. It has to be typed exactly, including spaces. You may want to copy and paste the command to avoid that.

Here it is again - it is all in a single line:

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

I had a slightly different path that worked to delete the plist from the Terminal.

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

It had to start from "private". It seems to have worked. No error returned. New plist had new creation date after reboot.

It also required me to go into the directories in the Finder to change some permissions to get in there. (Get Info, and then unlock permissions to change them.) Specifically "db" and "timed" seemed to want me to give permissions for everyone, rather than "no access". Not even sure I got them back to what they were. Crossing fingers.

I'm running Sonoma 14.1.2

Time will tell whether I fixed the problem.