Clock does not keep time and randomly stops?

[JeepRider]

The clock on my computer has a mind of it's own. Every time I turn it off, when I turn it back on, the clock is at the time that I shut the PC off. When I correct it, it will work fine for maybe half an hour, then it will stop for a while, and continue counting again later on. The BIOS battery is good. That was the first thing I changed out when this happened. No clue what to do from here. The computer is a Dell Optiplex 990

 

[iko22]

Hello JeepRider,

Maybe the BIOS is corrupted. When you replaced the battery, did you try reset the BIOS?

 

[TechnoMage2016]

When I was still doing Computer Repair for a living, I encountered several Dell PC's that had problems, and when I contacted Dell, I was told that the PC had a CPU/motherboard failure and only a new PC would solve the problem. Not what I or my customer wanted to hear.


It's doubtful that your PC is still in warranty, so the total fix would definitely be a NEW computer, hopefully from a different manufacturer. I know that's not the answer you want. Sorry!


When you changed the CMOS battery, did you totally remove all power from the system and then remove the old battery and leave it out for about 20-30 minutes, before installing a new one. If you didn't do that, I would suggest that you do. That would give the entire motherboard time to do a complete RESET.


Here's wishing you a very good 2020,

 

[sdowney717]

Had the same problem on a win7 PC, time always off. after the upgrade to win 10, times is always perfect.

I had people tell me the bios was corrupted etc..., but there was nothing wrong with the hardware, the problem was windows 7 software. For some strange reason, some PC's have lots of time issues, even if the windows software is supposed to keep the time correct, it does not work.

Try running TimeSync, it will sync the time on your PC and keep it correct.
Scroll down the downloads page to find it.
Horst Schaeffer's Software Pages

 

[JeepRider]

Hello JeepRider,

Maybe the BIOS is corrupted. When you replaced the battery, did you try reset the BIOS?

What do you mean reset the BIOS? Just default settings?

 

[JeepRider]

When I was still doing Computer Repair for a living, I encountered several Dell PC's that had problems, and when I contacted Dell, I was told that the PC had a CPU/motherboard failure and only a new PC would solve the problem. Not what I or my customer wanted to hear.


It's doubtful that your PC is still in warranty, so the total fix would definitely be a NEW computer, hopefully from a different manufacturer. I know that's not the answer you want. Sorry!


When you changed the CMOS battery, did you totally remove all power from the system and then remove the old battery and leave it out for about 20-30 minutes, before installing a new one. If you didn't do that, I would suggest that you do. That would give the entire motherboard time to do a complete RESET.


Here's wishing you a very good 2020,

New motherboard do the trick? Essentially new PC, just old case. I just swapped out the battery. I can pull the battery and leave it out overnight before I go to bed tonight.

 

[JeepRider]

Had the same problem on a win7 PC, time always off. after the upgrade to win 10, times is always perfect.

I had people tell me the bios was corrupted etc..., but there was nothing wrong with the hardware, the problem was windows 7 software. For some strange reason, some PC's have lots of time issues, even if the windows software is supposed to keep the time correct, it does not work.

Try running TimeSync, it will sync the time on your PC and keep it correct.
Scroll down the downloads page to find it.
Horst Schaeffer's Software Pages

I downloaded it and synced it. Clock ran for 8 minutes, got stuck on 8:30pm for about half an hour, and just started counting again.

 

[iko22]

What do you mean reset the BIOS? Just default settings?

Try this: how to clear cmos | lifewire , scroll down to Clear CMOS using the Motherboard Jumper,

Before you do, make note of any customised BIOS settings, as clearing the CMOS will loose them.