PC Clock keeps losing time

I've had this problem with many Dell branded PCs in my shop. Here are a couple of places to look:

1) Double check the motherboard to ensure the jumpers/BIOS is set correctly according to the speed of CPU you have mounted on it. Several of the DELL PCs I had were 350 MHz machines, but the jumper on the motherboard had the 233 MHz jumper shunted.

Also, by chance, is there an HP LaserJet 1100A series printer conntected to this computer? If there is, this is your likely culprit. The HP 1100 printer software causes a major slowdown on the PC, which is reflected in the clock losing up to 45 minutes per day. The offending piece of software is called Document Manager, or something similar to that. You can disable it all together, or install a patch that fixes the problem, which is downloadable from HP's web site. I believe the file is called HPP1284.EXE.

Good luck!

To add to the above answer:

Processor intensive operations will also throw your clock out of whack. I'm presently on a PIII 666 with 256Mb Ram running NT 4.0 and SQL Server 7.0, and when I run my database merge program to another SQL Server on the network, my system loses time as well.

Glen

I have never seen a PC that keeps time properly. That said, I don't have a fix for you, but I do have a workaround. I use a freeware program called AboutTime. You can find it at TUCOWS.COM. It will automatically set your PC's clock every time you access the Internet (or you can run it manually). Very small and simple to use. If the previous answers don't fix your problem, try this app.

Good luck,
Tim

Hi Elizabeth,
Another possibility is electrcity. Check your power source for the frequency & output.
If you are in the U.S., the frequency is 60hz
with AC output of 105-115volts. If the electricity varies more than that, your clock
will be off. When I was in Bosnia, we had copmuters that did not have switchable power supplies (110-220volts). The systems were 110 and the camp generators were 220/50hz. We used step-down transformers to bring the power to 110, but, it was still 50hz. Theclocks on the computers lost 15-30 minutes/day. If you are hooked into an uninteruptable power supply, have it checked.
I hope this helps.