General Chat

My PC has been doing weird things lately, when switching on it has sometimes been locking up and also not seeing the modem in the network ( have Belkin). That I seem able to solve by switching off and on again.
But the strange thing is that the clock has (at least when I have noticed) been way out. Now my mind sort of tells me the clock should adjust itself but it doesn't. At the moment real time is0946 and my pc says it is 1910 on the 9th January????

Rollo have you any ideas re this? We have literally looked at everything but wonder if it is something being thrown out by updates?

just a thought,one of my old pc had a flat battery that ran the clock.

dont know if laptops have the same.

Mine is a desk top Kay. but I will check thanks.

Kay is correct the most common reason for this problem is a flat desktop battery. They can easily be bought in Sainsbury, Teso, Maplin etc. inexpensive. The model is "2032".

In order to replace the battery you will need to prise out the old one with a flat screwdriver. BE CAREFUL! a skidding screwdriver can nix a motherboard. A plastic widget of some kind is better for that reason. There are lots of YouTube videos on how to do this.

Then just push the new one in. NB: note carefully which way round the old one was 'cos it matters.

Restart to BIOS and set the time and date. Then boot to windows.

BTW you will of course have to remove the computer case!

Some ( a lot ) of older Optiflex and VOSTRO DELL computers have a bug such that they fail to read the BIOS time on boot but are ok after it has been reset until the next time they are powered down.

Continually powering off and on is stressful for modern electronics and not recommended. Better to leave it on and set energy saving parameters to match.

Thank you Rollo, that is very helpful and will do as you suggest, particularly with leaving power on as it has generally been playing up every time (or nearly) I switch it on.

my old tower is rarely used... and has this problem....forgets the date, etc...
so batt exchange is probably likely...

Since I took Rollo's advice and left the power on the clock (and a couple of other problems,) have been ok.

We do already have one of the required batteries but have not changed it as it doesn't seem necessary at this time. OH is still a bit wary of leaving the power on but I have persuaded him. :-) :-)

I should gave added make sure that the power stack is plugged into a surge suppressor. They are about £8 at Currys Dyas Homebase etc Also needed for TV.

Have a look on youtube for a battery change on your model, some are a piece of cake (mine was) others can be a pig laptops in particular, most tower units are pretty straightforward though. ;-)

not all laptops and rack mounted computers use 2032 batteries and a few don't have a battery at all relying on an ultracapacitor soldered in. If it fails then it is a sonic screwdriver job to fix it. ATX towers are now obsolete except for maniac gamers and bitcoin mining. Of course they'll still be used but their days are numbered.

Yes we have a surge suppressor. So far it has behaved beautifully since not powering off.