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Menu bar clock not updating except when clicked

Hello. I'm having a really weird issue with my laptop (Macbook Pro, 10.7.4). In the last few days it's abruptly developed an issue where the clock in the upper right-hand corner will not update unless I click on it. In other words, it will display 10:00 steadily for forty-five minutes, but when I click the menu bar to get the Date/Time dropdown, it suddenly updates to 10:45, which it proceeds to continue to display until I click it again.


I've checked the Date/Time Preferences and they all seem to be right. "Set Date and Time Automatically" and "Set Time Zone Automatically" are checked, and both seem to register correctly in the preference dialog. The analog clock in that dialog also ticks along correctly but when it ticks over to a new minute, the menu bar clock does not change.


Out of curiosity, I flicked some of the options under "Clock" in the date/time preferences on and off...telling it to display the time with seconds doesn't change anything; the seconds remain as stagnant as everything else. Toggling it between a 12-hour and 24-hour display does cause it to update to the current time, but not to resume updating automatically.


All in all very weird, and is *really* throwing my groove off (you don't realize how much you come to depend on the computer clock until it isn't there). Google isn't coming up with any obvious answers...has anyone run into something like this before?


Much thanks!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Dec 30, 2012 8:57 PM

Reply
18 replies

Dec 31, 2012 12:41 AM in response to rosalindwills

check this

direwolf8



It doesn't look like you're reaching an ntp server. To verify whether your time is being synchronized, open a terminal window and type:


ntpq


ntpq> host localhost ntpq> peers


This should show a list of servers that are synchronizing your clock and some other details. Check to be sure you are actually synchronizing.


Dec 31, 2012 6:19 AM in response to rosalindwills

If it is not the NTP server, you could try an alternate menubar clock, as an experiment.


Day-O

<http://macupdate.com/app/mac/43284/day-o>


I actually like it better than the default Mac OS X menubar clock. So if it works for you AND you like it, your problem is solved.


If the problem continues, then there is an underlying problem, either with the time source, or with the menubar support infrastructure.


If an alternate clock works, it means there is something specific to the default menubar clock software.

Jan 1, 2013 1:38 PM in response to BobHarris

Here's what I got when querying the NTP:


ntpq> host localhost

current host set to localhost

ntpq> peers

remote refid st t when poll reach delay offset jitter

==============================================================================

*time.apple.com 17.168.198.148 2 u 18 512 1 38.118 -1.749 1.170

ntpq>


So I guess that's working?


Further updates since I posted the last message...I tried an app called MagiCal, which among other things added a new menubar clock. THat seemed to work fine and ticked along quite nicely, except the night after I installed it the computer did this weird half-crash thing and I don't know if it's related (to either the app or the clock problem) but I haven't had the guts to try it again yet.


The default clock software seems to work sporadically; a couple times it's been fine for a while, or has clicked forward and caught up with itself suddenly and then fallen behind again. Weirdly, however, the computer still seems to know what time it is -- an incoming message in Thunderbird, for instance, will be correctly marked 3:30pm, even though the menu bar is still saying 2:30.


So assuming that it is something specific to the default menubar clock software...is there any way to fix/reboot/decorrupt that program? Or am I just stuck with it unless I can find a working alternative?

Jan 1, 2013 4:25 PM in response to rosalindwills

I have the same problem on a new Mac Mini. For me the problem happens both with the standard Mac OS X clock as well as a 3rd party, "iStat Menus". I'm wondering if it's something to do with the whole menu bar not being graphically updated as other icons in mine remain static unless clicked on whence they update. A bug in OS X more than the app within the menu bar itself. I'm running the latest 10.8.2 BTW, not Lion.

Jan 1, 2013 4:35 PM in response to rosalindwills

This is a UI problem instead of an issue with the system's time. Try removing the SystemUIServer preferences file, which is in the username/Library/Preferences/ folder and is called "com.apple.systemuiserver.plist."


If this does not work, then try uninstalling, quitting, or removing any third-party menu items (ie, status monitors, AV software, or the like), to see if that helps the situation, as these can interfere and cause these problems.

Jan 2, 2013 7:07 AM in response to rosalindwills

I'm also experiencing this issue. I run iStat Menus which places a bunch of system metrics in the menubar so could be that's the culprit. Didn't notice anything wrong with the clock before this morning though and I have had the iStat software for a while now.


I DID configure a VPN through the network settings pane which now also shows in the menubar. Could that have triggered this?

Menu bar clock not updating except when clicked

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