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Anyone else having issues with windows time sync ?

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by wojnar 1 view

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I have 3 pc's (out of about 50) in the enterprise that are on a win 2003 server R3 domain that refuse to sync with the Domain Controller since daylight savings time began this year. All enterprise pc's have been set up identically and are win xp pro sp3 and up to date in patches. Server has correct time and is sync'ed to an external time server. Client w32tm configs have syncfromflags set to domhier and the BIOS clocks were set to correct time booted. If time is corrected on the desktop, issuing the w32tm /resync /rediscover instructiuon causes the clock to go back one hour. The time zone is correct and checking/unchecking the daylight savings time check box has no impact on the behavior. I have disabled the windows time service on the affected pc's but want an actual fix. Any ideas ?

9 replies

by netwrk_admn

TZEdit may need to be ran on W2K3. A couple in my environment had the exact same symptoms (while other W2K3 servers were fine). Use TZEdit, edit your time zone because you have to tell it the new DST schedule.

Then I had to send an update with 'w32tm /config /update.'

Probably doesn't need to be mentioned, but make sure all apps running on the server are okay with a bump in time, and watch your scheduled tasks schedule.

by wojnar

I will go ahead and give your suggestion a try. The reason I am not too hopefull is that all the client pc's are pointed to the same server and just the 3 are not behaving. The server itself is correct. I will let you know if it works. Thanks for the response.

Another approach I am going to try is to see if I disable the time service on 2 of the non-cooperative pc's, set them to the correct time and then try to sync the third pc. Just in case they are somehow - even though the config is DOMHIER - they are acting as PEER. At this point I'll try anything.

by snuffy09

I have noticed, once you config tzedit you have to go into your localtime settings on your computer and click timezone tab, then untick automaticly adjust time and click apply, then retick auto adjust and click apply again.

before i did this the time didnt change without a restart.

by oldbaritone

Many problems until I changed the time synchronization to use NTP and sync with NIST.

We used to have a server that had problems, and the clock drifted terribly, 5 min or more per day. It was a nightmare. Clients logged in to it would synchronize to the out-of-whack clock.

I changed the clients to use NTP to an independent time source. End of problems.

Configuring the Windows Time service to use an external time source:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816042

by wojnar

2 of the 3 pc's are secured from internet access so I can't go external on them. The server is set to sync to external (which I thought would solve all my time issues more than a year ago). Now, true to form, what worked for a long time is now broken.

by oldbaritone

Have you tried specifying a particular time server in the DHCP scope (Option 4)? Try forcing all time synchronization to the same (local) server.

Another alternative, set the local server up to provide NTP time service, and point the clients at it via NTP instead of Windows time service.

It may or may not work, but it's a couple more things to try...

:-)

by wojnar

it might just work. (but not til monday);-) Thanks

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