For several months now I have had problems with the time setting on my laptop which is always incorrect. For other reasons we have updated our security system (Panda) and also fiddled with the settings for our wireless router, but don’t think they have affected the time given it was already an issue. I have reset the time repeatedly, but it is soon incorrect again. I have tried to configure Windows to automatically synchronise the time with an internet time server, but receive the error message “The peer is unreachable” even though the internet is otherwise working fine. Both of the listed servers (time.windows.com and time.nist.gov) return with the same error. I checked the Windows Help for assistance on this issue, but the only possibility seems to be unblocking the network time protocol but I can’t see anything in the Panda program to assist.

There seems to be two issues at play with this problem. First, the fact that your Windows system clock is running behind time. Second, that you cannot synchronise the time with a time server over the internet. A potential cause of both these issues could be something wrong with the time service on your system. This Windows service controls the time displayed on your computer, and also synchronisation with time servers on the internet. Other users have reported problems with the Internet Time synchronisation systems within Windows XP, resulting in the time to be incorrect for some unknown reason. So that we can eliminate this as a potential cause, completely disable Internet Time synchronisation within Windows. Then, set the clock at the correct time and see whether the problem continues.

Should the problem continue, it is possible that somehow the Windows time service has become misconfigured or is experiencing some other mysterious problem. There is an article available on the Microsoft Knowledge Base website which deals with this issue. Follow the instructions available at support.microsoft.com/kb/555440 to see whether this procedure resolves the problem. You should make note of two points when following this procedure. First, the article comments that you should check the Internet Time settings within the Date and Time control panel. Double-check that Internet Time is completely disabled. Second, make sure you restart the computer at the end of the procedure, to ensure the changes take effect before you correct the time. Once the computer has restarted, if the time is not correct set the time to be correct and see whether the problem has been resolved.

Should the problem continue, the next most likely cause is the CMOS battery on your computer is failing. This is a battery located on the computer motherboard which provides a small amount of power to the motherboard, even when the computer is turned-off and/or unplugged, to retain the computer hardware settings located on the motherboard. If this battery is flat, the time settings on the computer may be forgotten when the computer is shutdown causing the time to be incorrect. To check whether this is the problem, you will need to start your computer from a cold boot (i.e. a normal situation which would cause the computer time to be incorrect) and enter the BIOS setup. The BIOS (basic input output system) setup provides an interface to all the settings which are stored in the computer BIOS and CMOS (we can use these terms interchangeably for our purposes). As soon as the computer starts, you should see a message appear on screen saying ?Press … to enter setup?. Press the nominated key to open the BIOS setup. If not displayed when you enter the setup, go to the BIOS setup page which displays the system time information. Without knowing your exact model of computer I cannot provide step-by-step instructions for this procedure, so you will need to navigate your own way to the time display. Be wary, do not modify any settings within the BIOS setup. Our visit is simply exploratory to check the current time setting within the BIOS. Any accidental changes to the BIOS setup could cause system instability, or prevent your system from working correctly. Once you have found the time setting in the BIOS setup, check whether the time is correct. If the time is incorrect, the problem is most likely a flat the CMOS battery. In this case, you will need to have this battery replaced. The battery itself is quite cheap (only a few dollars) but I would not recommend that you install the battery yourself unless you are confident working inside computers, and understand the relevant precautions when completing such work (e.g. antistatic precautions, power disconnection while working inside computers, etc.). If you are not confident in this process, then I strongly advise you to take the computer to a repair shop and have them make the relevant replacements.

However, should the time within the BIOS setup be correct, this indicates that the BIOS is still keeping the correct time, and thus the CMOS battery should be alright. In this situation, our attention returns to something within Windows causing the time problems. So far we have eliminated Internet Time synchronisation as a potential cause, since this has been disabled, so the root cause is likely to be something within Windows. The next possible cause of this problem may be a process running on the computer. To test this theory, we need to close all programs and background processes. Close any open programs, and also any processes running in the system tray (next to the clock). Then, press CTRL-ALT-DEL to open the Windows Task Manager. In the window that appears, click the “Processes” tab. This will display all the processes which are running on the computer. Click the “User Name” heading in the table to sort the table by user name (if the user name column heading is not visible, go to the “View” menu > “Select Columns” and tick “User Name”). Once the processes have been sorted by user name, end all the processes which are running under your user name. You should be able to close all the processes except ?explorer.exe? (the Windows user interface) and ?taskmgr.exe? (the Windows Task Manager, which is currently being used to close the processes). Then, set the time correctly and see whether this sticks.

If the time does stick, one of those processes is causing the problem. Restart the computer, set the computer time correctly, and then close the processes one at a time, to see when the problem stops. This will be a very time consuming process, but unfortunately there is no easier way to track down the problem process with any certainty.

In the event that closing all the processes does not resolve the problem, this makes the problem more complicated to diagnose. For lack of any better suggestions, you may need to attempt a reinstallation of Windows. That said, if any other readers have suggestions for how Catriona could resolve the time synchronisation problem then please write in.

Regarding the lack of connectivity with the Internet Time servers, we should check whether your computer can even see these servers. Go to the “Start” menu > “Run” and type “cmd” (without the quotes) to open a command prompt window. In this window, type the following command followed by pressing the ENTER key:
ping time.nist.gov
This will try and contact the NIST time server. If you receive messages along the lines of ?Reply from 192.43.244.18? (or similar) this means that your computer can see the time server. However, if you see messages such as “Request timed out” this means your computer cannot see the server. In this latter case, it seems there is something awry with communication between your computer and the time server. Please contact me for further advice, as this is a separate problem in itself. However, if you do get replies then your computer should be able to communicate with the NIST time server. Ping operations use a different protocol to communicate with the server than network time, so this indicates that your firewall may indeed be blocking the network time protocol (as the Windows help suggested). In this case, you may need to make contact with the manufacturers of Panda to check whether any such protocols may be blocked in the software.

Please note, don’t try the ping test on the time.windows.com server, as this server appears to block ping packets (and thus will not give you any ping replies). This has nothing to do with your computer, but instead the server has been configured not to give the replies. This is the reason we are using the NIST server to test instead, as this server does give ping replies, providing a more accurate indication of whether the problem is your computer or not.