Mavericks Clock Issue

This seems very odd.

I believe the "Set time zone automatically using current location" feature will resolve the location either via location services (which uses wifi) or via IP (which can be inaccurate).

I can understand if either of these features are slow to respond it may not be able to update, but it makes little sense that the clock fails to continue with it's own 'heartbeat'.

Since you have already tried each combination of settings I would go straight to looking at what is installed & running. Hopefully it will be a conflict with a third party peice of software.

Reboot into safe mode & see if that changes the behaviour. Some features are disabled in safe mode (like wifi on certain models) so you can only test what is working.

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455

EtreCheck will give us something to look at, but it is best to see if Safe mode exhibits the same issue.

http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

Post the report here & tell us how Safe mode worked out.

If it also fails in safe mode it's time to consider Apple Hardware Test.

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509

You should set "Set time and date automatically" to ON.

and set the "Set time zone automatically using current location" to OFF (this can change event time in the Calendar, when you are on the move).

Then restart the computer.

These are the correct settings. What should solve the issue is a Recovery:

Start the MBP while holding CMD + R, it will start the Recovery Partition, choose the recovery. It will not touch your data (but you have backups ofcourse). and it will not take vey long.

Then check the settings again.

I have had the identical problem since upgrading to Mavericks, and never had a problem before. I will try using the Recovery option.

Fred (burger?), this safe boot resets a lot of inner settings, so fallen bits are corrected often, the Recovery method does the same, but also revert things that are messed up in the OS by the user.

I am having a similar problem with the clock being incorrect. Since updgrading to Mavericks, the problem has been somewhat sporadic. When it would happen, I could simply go into the Date & Time Preferences and uncheck and check the automatic settings boxes and then it would work fine without any further attention. Kind of weird, but no big deal.

Today, however, the clock is exactly 5 hours behind, and I cannot change it at all. I have tried unchecking and checking the automatic setting boxes in the preferences. I tried booting in Safe Mode. I tried booting under the Recovery HD and repairing the disk. None of these solutions have worked. The clock has been 5 hours behind through all of these processes.

I am in the Central time zone (Houston), which is 5 hours behind GMT. Maybe it thinks CDT is GMT so it's going 5 hours behind that? I don't know. In the Date & Time Preferences, if I select different cities on the map, the time changes accordingly, but it's always 5 hours behind. For example, if the actual time is 9:34pm in Houston, the clock will show 4:34pm for Central time. For New York, 5:34pm. For Los Angeles, 2:34pm.

I'm glad I use gmail instead of Apple Mail so at least my emails have the correct time stamps. Time Machine has the incorrect time, though (5 hours behind). Files that I create show the correct Created time but the incorrect Modified time. For example, a file I downloaded from Google Drive onto my desktop at 10:55pm shows "Created: Today, 10:55 PM" and "Modified: Today, 5:55 PM".

Something is messed up.... I'm going to try the hardware test. I'm using a MacBook Pro Late 2011 with OS X 10.9.3. The hard drive is a third party 1 TB drive I installed last December.

Any other ideas?

Ok, I tried the basic Apple Hardware Test (3 min), and it did not find any problems. I did not try the extended hardware test (1 hour). Is it worth trying for this kind of issue?

Does anyone have any other ideas?

Below is what EtreCheck told me about my system.

The time stamp here for Time Machine is correct, 10:26pm for last backup. However, when I click on the icon in my menu bar, it says the last backup was 5:26pm. Also, when I enter Time Machine, it shows 5:26pm. When this backup was made, the clock issue was present, yet deep down inside Time Machine (or another part of the system) still knew what time it actually was. Also, as I mentioned before, when I create a new file, it shows the correct "Created" time but the incorrect "Modified" time in the file information. It appears that there are two different clocks. One is correct and the other isn't.

The EtreCheck report says a couple of the user launch agents failed. Are those important or relevant?

And fyi, the actual time of the report was July 10, at 1:06:47 AM central time. I ran the check shortly before writing this reply (submitted 11:31pm pacific, 1:31am central). Yes, this report time stamp is also 5 hours behind.

-----

EtreCheck version: 1.9.12 (48)

Report generated July 9, 2014 at 8:06:47 PM CDT

Hardware Information:

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011) (Verified)

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,2

1 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4 cores

8 GB RAM

Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 512 MB

AMD Radeon HD 6750M - VRAM: 512 MB

VX2250 SERIES 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz

System Software:

OS X 10.9.3 (13D65) - Uptime: 0 days 0:10:18

Disk Information:

WDC WD10JUCT-63CYNY0 disk0 : (1 TB)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 899.35 GB (461.97 GB free)

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB

BOOTCAMP (disk0s4) /Volumes/BOOTCAMP: 100 GB (43.34 GB free)

MATSHITADVD-R UJ-8A8

USB Information:

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Generic USB2.0-CRW

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Macally Peripherals Hub in Macally ICEKEY keyboard

Logitech USB Receiver

Macally Peripherals Macally ICEKey keyboard

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

FireWire Information:

CREMAX TECH. CO., LTD Oxford ATA Device 00 400mbit - 400mbit max

EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB

Time Machine (disk1s2) /Volumes/Time Machine: 2 TB (1.23 TB free)

Thunderbolt Information:

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper:

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions:

[loaded] com.Logitech.Control Center.HID Driver (3.5.1 - SDK 10.0) Support

[not loaded] com.Logitech.Unifying.HID Driver (1.2.0 - SDK 10.0) Support

[not loaded] com.macally.iokit.MacallyICEKBDriver (1.0.0) Support

Launch Daemons:

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support

[loaded] com.adobe.versioncueCS3.plist Support

[running] com.autodesk.backburner_manager.plist Support

[running] com.autodesk.backburner_server.plist Support

[loaded] com.autodesk.backburner_start.plist Support

[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist Support

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist Support

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist Support

[loaded] com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper.plist Support

Launch Agents:

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support

[running] com.Logitech.Control Center.Daemon.plist Support

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist Support

User Launch Agents:

[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support

[running] com.amazon.cloud-player.plist Support

[failed] com.apple.CSConfigDotMacCert-[...]@me.com-SharedServices.Agent.plist

[failed] com.google.GoogleContactSyncAgent.plist Support

User Login Items:

Flux

Citations

AdobeResourceSynchronizer

Quicksilver

Spark Daemon

Google Notifier

iTunesHelper

USBOverdriveHelper

Google Drive

Dropbox

Internet Plug-ins:

o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 5.4.2.18903 Support

Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 3.2.0.16 - SDK 10.8 Support

AmazonMP3DownloaderPlugin1016264: Version: AmazonMP3DownloaderPlugin 1.0.17 - SDK 10.4 Support

AmazonMP3DownloaderPlugin101750: Version: AmazonMP3DownloaderPlugin 1.0.17 - SDK 10.4 Support

Silverlight: Version: 5.1.10411.0 - SDK 10.6 Support

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 14.0.0.145 - SDK 10.6 Support

Flash Player: Version: 14.0.0.145 - SDK 10.6 Support

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 5.4.2.18903 Support

SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.3 - SDK 10.6 Support

AdobePDFViewer: Version: 8.3.1 Support

JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 7 Update 60 Check version

Safari Extensions:

Add To Amazon Wish List: Version: 1.5

Add To Amazon Wish List: Version: 1.8

AdBlock: Version: 2.7.5

Audio Plug-ins:

BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9

AirPlay: Version: 2.0 - SDK 10.9

AppleAVBAudio: Version: 203.2 - SDK 10.9

iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9

iTunes Plug-ins:

Quartz Composer Visualizer: Version: 1.4 - SDK 10.9

User Internet Plug-ins:

WebEx64: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.6 Support

3rd Party Preference Panes:

Adobe Version Cue CS3 Support

Flash Player Support

Flip4Mac WMV Support

Java Support

Logitech Control Center Support

Time Machine:

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 837.58 GB Disk used: 407.33 GB

Destinations:

Time Machine [Local] (Last used)

Total size: 2

Total number of backups: 121

Oldest backup: 2011-11-09 03:17:11 +0000

Last backup: 2014-07-09 22:26:26 +0000

Size of backup disk: Adequate

Backup size 2 > (Disk used 407.33 GB X 3)

Time Machine details may not be accurate.

All volumes being backed up may not be listed.

Top Processes by CPU:

5% WindowServer

0% Google Drive

0% fontd

0% com.apple.WebKit.Networking

0% Flux

Top Processes by Memory:

262 MB Safari

133 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

123 MB mds_stores

123 MB Dock

123 MB com.apple.IconServicesAgent

Virtual Memory Information:

1.72 GB Free RAM

4.64 GB Active RAM

395 MB Inactive RAM

1.24 GB Wired RAM

336 MB Page-ins

0 B Page-outs

at least set the clock and date settings to the corresponding settings for TimeZone and in Country settings: some are in 12-hrs and some in 24-hrs.

The Time Zone and Country settings were already correct. I am in Houston, TX, and I had Houston selected as the city in the Time Zone tab. In the Date & Time tab, I had AppleAmericas/U.S. selected.

Just now when I woke up my computer, the time was still 5 hours behind, even after connecting to the WiFi. However, when I opened the Date & Time preferences pane, somehow it automatically fixed itself and it's now showing the correct time. I don't know what happened. The main difference is that I'm at home instead of at work. I did not even have to uncheck and check the the "set time automatically" boxes. Upon opening the pane, I already had the "Set date and time automatically" box checked and the "Set time zone automatically using current location" box unchecked. The clock fixed itself without me having to touch these.

I remember now that this is how my previous sporadic clock issues were remedied. I don't think I usually had to uncheck and check the boxes, but simply opening the Date & Time pane reset things.

This is weird. Could sketchy WiFi signals cause clock issues like this? I had never encountered the problem to the extent that I could not change it myself. Last night I opened the Date & Time pane several times and checked and unchecked the boxes to no avail. It would be nice to know what's causing the problem. In the meantime, at least my clock is working for now.

There are so many settings for Time Date Timezone Timeformat Region .... check them all for consistency and:

do NOT set "timezone automatically using current location".

<There is a similar problem in Calendar: do NOT set "turn on timezone support": it will make a mess of the time and date in your Calendar.>

After you change settings it is not a bad idea to restart the mac.

Lex

There are a number of things in your Etrecheck list that are necessary to "treat".

I think they do not have anything to do with your Time/Date issue.

For example: in Mavericks Java - when installed - is better removed, because this function is now automatically in Safari.

And so on. Post a message when you want to do anything about it.

Thanks, Lex. I think all of my existing settings were consistent already. Below are screen snapshots of all the tabs in the Date & Time preferences pane. These settings were in place last night while the issue was still present. I have not changed them since.

The problem is hard to troubleshoot now because the clock is working. I just don't know what changed to make it work. Last night even after safe mode and recovery and the hardware test, etc., nothing seemed to make it budge. This morning I woke my computer up under a different wifi network, and as soon as I opened the Date & Time preferences pane (without touching anything), it reset itself to the correct time. It did not do that last night, and I don't know why.

Re: Calendar -- I do not use the Mac OS calendar application, although thanks for the warning about the time zone setting.

Re: EtreCheck list -- I am open to suggestions for improving my system, but I think they belong in a different discussion unless the issues directly apply to the functionality of the clock.

Thanks again for your feedback.