My pc clock has gone cookoo!

[L6steel]

The clock on my pc randomly jumps back to 7:51 am march 21 1990. Till this morning it's only done it when I turned the thing on but it just did it while I was using the pc. What would make that happen and is it anything to worry about? I ran a virus scan and it came up clear. Thanks up front!!!!

 

[singteck]

I think the back up battery for the motherboard needs changing.

singteck

 

[maximus otter]

RocketTime 1.3.0.4:

"Keep your computer's clock split-second accurate with this free utility from Rocket Software. RocketTime checks and corrects your PC clock each time you connect to the Internet (or at an interval you specify). RocketTime uses the government's NIST time servers."

http://www.download.com/RocketTime/3000-2094_4-6993471.html?tag=lst-0-2

maximus otter

 

[Gabe Newell]

Like singteck says, sounds like your battery needs replacing. A bunch of bad things can happen if the clock goes woncky (time stamps that confuse the OS).

 

[L6steel]

I didn't even know the thing had a battery in it, lol!
I tried to find back up battery in the help file and came up blank. I'll just pop the top and look for it I guess.
Thanks guys!!!

 

[ZJChaser]

It will look like a watch battery on the motherboard.

 

[Treg]

Change the bios battery...

 

[Cougar Allen]

It looks like an oversize watch battery. It'll slip right out and you just slip the new one in. WARNING: If a computer dealer tries to charge you $30 for a replacement do not pay them! I've heard of prices as high as $80 from some of the more proprietary computer manufacturers. They'll try to convince you it's a special proprietary battery and you have to buy it from them. March right out the door and go to another computer store or Radio Shack or get it on the net. It's an ordinary NiCad cell; there are only a few kinds and you can get them lots of places.

 

[Andrew Taylor]

Cougar. It is normally a Lithium Ion battery. The battery only sends power to the bios chip and uses very minimal power. When your computer is powered up, the bios is powered by the motherboard rather then the battery.

The standard battery is a CR2032

http://www.radioshack.com/sm-cr2032...lithium-battery--pi-2062105_tb-techSpecs.html

Better picture and only $1.99 here, but you have to buy 5.
http://www.batteryprice.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=292

Here in Canada Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmaplus sells them.

 

[Cougar Allen]

Yeah, they're lithium primary batteries these days. I was stuck in a time warp....

 

[Andrew Taylor]

Yes, I can remember stacked nickel cadmium batteries hard soldered to the motherboard.

The overnight memory has gone in our Sony tuner, and I suspect the nicads have gone and they will be fixed to the PCB.