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PCwhisperer
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June 23rd, 2007 19:00
C521 Clock Problems
I bought a C521 with the specs below in April and have been having an annoying problem with the system clock ever since. :smileymad:
I can set the correct time on the system clock and leave the machine switched on for several hours. When I return to it say 6 or 7 hours later, the time has altered and has typically lost 3 to 4 hours. Always a discrete number, in half hour increments. It doesn't happen every day but probably every 2 days.
I have tried the following things to fix it....
- Set the synchronisation window to 2 minutes and tried several different servers from the list (time.windows.com/time.nist.gov/time-nw.nist.gov).
- Altered the power profile so that it doesn't hibernate or switch the display off (screensaver still active though).
- Checked the regional and Daylight Savings Time settings (all correct).
- Haven't tried changing the BIOS battery yet but I can't see that being the issue on a 3 month old system.
When I view the time control GUI, it synchronises fine every 2 minutes up until about 2 hours after it was last used and then doesn't even attempt to synchronise after that. I have also noticed the hard drive light flashes quite regularly under normal use but when I have come back to it after leaving it for those few hours, the drive light is totally inactive. I'm wondering if there is a setting in Vista that I haven't found yet to turn off the HDD to save power??
If anyone can shed some light on this issue, that would be great. This is the only thing spoiling a great little system that we are using as a media centre and it's pants when I set it to record something and it fails because the time is wrong.
- Mary offers a technically correct possible solution here. Also, in regards to the system clock can you indicate if you are talking about the windows clock time or are you talking about the system clock in the BIOS?As for your HDD turn-off issue:Click Start.Choose Control Panel.Choose Power Options.Under whichever power plan is currently selected, choose "Change Plan Settings".Choose "Change advanced power settings".Click the plus sign next to the "hard disk" listing.Click the plus sign next to the "Turn off hard disk after" listing.Select your setting to adjust as appropriate.Click Ok to save your changes.Click the "Save changes" button to save your changes.
PCwhisperer
3 Posts
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Posted June 24th, 2007 21:00
Thanks for your help Mary and Clocks. When I referred to the system clock, I meant both the time shown in Windows and the BIOS time. When this issue first occurred, I checked that they matched up by rebooting and entering the BIOS. They both matched, leading me to think that Vista had written the incorrect time to the BIOS when it shut down. However, this could be viewed the other way, that the BIOS clock got corrupted and provided Vista with the wrong value. At that point, I got confused and just concentrated on it being a Vista issue. I found several notice boards where people were posting similar problems with Vista and so I took my actions as above from those forums. They seemed to fix everyone else's problem but not mine :smileysad:I will definitley try changing the CMOS battery when I get a chance and also making sure the HDD is not turned off, as I guess this could cause the lack of synchronisation I am experiencing.I will keep you posted with the progress. Just to say, this forum is great, people have come up with the goods both times I've had a question or two. Keep up the great support!!- You still might want to let Dell know about this. It shouldn't happen to a new computer. Your hard drive settings are in Power Options, select a power scheme and then select Change Plan settings for that scheme. Change what you want, however Media Center is smart enough to know not to go to sleep or hibernate while in use.I thought of something else about your cmos battery. Perhaps it is a little loose from shipping or the holding clips have bent or moved. Open the case and check everything, including that. Be very careful to ground yourself and follow all precautions in the manual--available online: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dimc521/en/SM_EN/parts.htm#wp1052372
PCwhisperer
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Posted July 25th, 2007 20:00
Hi Mary and Clocks. Apologies for taking so long to get back to you guys about my clock problem but I was away on busines for 4 weeks and couldn't get back to try anything. I have now tried a couple more things and got these results....
1. I tried setting the power saving information so that it would not turn off the HDD and this appeared to work for about a week. I could leave the machine on all the time and it would show the correct Windows and BIOS time. I downloaded a larger clock for the sidebar (Thanks Mary!!) and all was well. Then, it started to do the old trick of losing the time when left on its own overnight and sometimes during the day too. It then went downhill fast and failed to keep the correct time for more than 12 hours at a stretch.
2. I finally managed to change the CMOS battery on Sunday and then rejoiced as it kept good time for over 2 days. I then woke up this morning, checked the time and found it had lost around 2 hours overnight. I have also downloaded an uptime gadget for the sidebar and this had paused too. Upon moving the mouse, it came back to life but did not synchronise with the time server and I had to do this manually.
I have noticed that when it loses the time, it appears to "lock up", with no activity from the HDD and even the screensaver freezes. Slightly more worryingly, I experienced the BSOD today while watching TV, which also locked up the tuner that Media Center was using at the time.
I am rapidly getting the impression that I should contact Dell Support about this and use what I paid for with the Collect and Return support to get it sorted. But I just wanted to ask you guys in case you may have any more nuggets of wisdom, other than the track I'm heading down, which is a faulty HDD or a pants installation of Vista.
Mary G
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20095 Posts
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Posted June 23rd, 2007 19:00