Date and Time Reset Themselves

Question

Level 1

121 points

Date and Time Reset Themselves

Recently, whenever I unplug my iBook to bring it somewhere, and then plug it back in, the date and time reset, telling me it's sometime in the sixties at 7:30 at night. The battery is already dead on this model, and has been since before this problem started happening, so I kind of doubt it's that. Is there something else I need to do to get the computer to remember the date and time or is it the battery issue? Any help would be great.

-Bill

Mac Pro 660x meg 3, Mac OS X (10.3.7)

Posted on Feb 17, 2007 1:26 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 18, 2007 2:20 AM in response to Bill Margolis

Hi Bill,

Unless you have recently reset the PMU, it's most likely to be a battery issue.

Unlike desktop machines, the iBook has no internal battery apart from the one on the underside of the iBook.

If the battery goes dead, there is no way for the iBook to 'remember' the date and time. It needs to be physically reset every time the iBook is connected to the mains.

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Answer 2

Feb 18, 2007 5:31 AM in response to Bill Margolis

What has happened is that, until recently, the battery has managed to keep enough of a charge that your date and time didn't die, even though it wasn't a sufficient charge for running the computer.

Once the battery is completely and utterly dead, it can't even keep the date and time settings any more.

If you turn off the computer and leave it off and unplugged for only a few seconds, there is a capacitor that keeps the settings long enough to swap batteries. Any longer time unplugged with a completely dead battery, and your date and time settings are lost.

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Answer 3

Bill Margolis Author

Level 1

121 points

Feb 18, 2007 11:33 AM in response to Ronda Wilson

Thanks for the help, guys.

-Bill

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Answer 4

Feb 19, 2007 2:18 AM in response to Bill Margolis

No worries,

Glad to have been of assistance.

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