Sync of pc clocks

[soccerdad]

My new pc keeps time very poorly. It gains 3-5 minutes a day. I hacked the reg to get it to try to update every 6 hours but I still have issues. It appears that even though it tries to update every 6 hours, it is only successful every 2 or 3 tries. (the clock servers must be packed). This ends up screwing up my recordings, especially with back to back recordings since I can't pad them. My other PC on the network keeps great time. Does anyone know how to sync the time on my poor timekeeping machine with the good clock one? I think it can be done but just can't find good directions. Please use small words in your reply since I am obviously dense in this area:eek:

[Jim_]

AboutTime does exactly what your looking for.
Very nice!
http://www.arachnoid.com/abouttime/index.html

[ejeffers]

Well, i dont know how to sync your computers' clocks, but it sounds like The CMOS battery on your motherboard is dying. Open up your PC, get the battery out, take it to a local battery store, and get a new one. Then, your comp should be able to keep its time longer.

[psycik]

if you're on xp, why not just set up the time syncing that xp does (double click the clock, turn on internet time).

Doesn't fix your buggered battery though.

[mian]

timsync util

Sync as many times a day as you want with the above. I sync hourly.

As to the CMOS, if you want to know if it's really in need of replacement, see what variance there is between your PC's clock and real time immediately after starting up. Just because it loses sync during operating hours doesn't mean the CMOS is dead, only if it's out of sync right after startup.

[ww4397]

My PC runs fast, too. I made the registry hack (in XP Pro) and set it to sync every 60 minutes and I have sync to:

time.nist.gov

rather than the Microsoft server. This all works pretty well.

About the CMOS battery, I didn't think that battery was used when the PC is on. My PC runs fast while it is running. Even with 60 a minute re-sync, it still gains a few seconds each hour. Does this battery matter to keeping time once the PC is runing on electric power?

Thanks.

[soccerdad]

I used the link that Jim gave me and it works great. I decided not sync them on the network because the program works so well. What I like about it is that if the first time server is busy, it just moves on and tries another one. The windows reg hack did not work for me well since the servers were often busy. I kept going back and forth between the servers but I had problems with both. Now it updates every hour and has not failed in 3 days.

I have not tried the battery thing yet. I will in the future but for now it is good enough. The networks are screwing around anyway and starting or ending shows early or late now by a few seconds just to have fun with us so being off by a few seconds is ok. Thanks for all the input.