Laptop not keeping time/date

[Jack Carver]

Hi guys,

Recently my laptop (running Windows XP) has started to lose track of both the time and date, the difference is not too major at most the laptop will be a few days behind the current date but it is rather annoying for telling the time and I will be denied access to certain websites because of this until I change the time/date to the correct one. I have set the time and date correctly in both windows and the BIOS and this normally works fine until I reboot or turn off the computer, I have reason to believe this is caused by the CMOS battery but I can't be sure. The problem started after replacing the laptops old worn out battery with a new one.

 

[cirdecus]

It could be a few things:

CMOS Battery: Usually they last a super long time, but most can be replaced easily. They're typically CR2032's which you can get anywhere
Malware: Sometimes malware messes with the data/time to manipulate login data and such. I'd run some scans with malwarebytes (free)
TimeSync: There are a few tricks you can do to try and resync the time. Open the command prompt and type:

w32tm /resync

You can also go into control panel, administrative tools, services. Find the Windows Time Service and make sure it is started. Maybe restart it. If it wasn't started OR if restarting it works, then you can write a quick batch file and drop it in your START, PROGRAMS, STARTUP folder to run at startup:

just open a notepad document, type

net stop w32time
net start w32time

Then save as "all files" and save it as myservice.bat

 

[Jack Carver]

Hi, short of replacing the CMOS battery I have tried everything else. Malware scan came up clean. The resync command via CMD does work but only for a short time, say 1 hour maximum before it will forget the time. The startup script is the same, upon booting the script will run but the time will very slowly lose sync. Any ideas other than replacing the CMOS battery?