Why does my system time always revert back to 2007?
By mark98
@mark98 (567)
China
February 16, 2011 2:09am CST
This has happened several times now. Every time I re-adjust the time and date. But after a few days I notice the time is out of sync by several hours and on further examining find that the calender is on some date in October 2007. Usually this does not cause any trouble, but occasionally when I try to log into some authentic sites like Gmail, Yahoo Mail, etc. my Firefox can't verify their security certificates because its working in a different time than these sites and I have to adjust the date and time before I can log in.
1 person likes this
3 responses
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
16 Feb 11
The most common reason for this is that your CMOS battery needs changing. There is a small flat, round battery (like a watch battery) located somewhere on your motherboard which is used to power the CMOS settings memory. These usually last for several years but eventually need to be replaced.
Turn off your computer and take out the power lead. Open the case and look at the motherboard. Look for a flat, round silvery object (usually towards the edge of the board). Gently remove this battery from its clip, NOTING WHICH SIDE IS UPPERMOST. Note the battery type and buy a replacement (they are generally a common type and should be readily available). If there are two batteries stacked, then, of course, you need to replace both. Make sure that you replace them the right way round.
If you had made changes to your CMOS (boot settings and so on), you may have to reset these from the Boot menu but it's likely that these were already set to the default settings and that all you need to change is the time, which you can do in Windows.
1 person likes this
@kris182_2000 (5469)
• Canada
16 Feb 11
I couldn't agree more with you.
I had this happen to me several years ago and didn't know why my system did it. I was told by a technician that it was the battery and that I should change it.
I changed it and it was fine after that.
I hope it doesn't happen on my laptop as I can't get it open to replace it.
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
16 Feb 11
@kris182_2000: There is usually a small removable cover on the underside somewhere (possibly the same one which allows access to the RAM) which allows you to change the CMOS battery. It's sometimes not very obvious but it should be mentioned in the User Manual (if you haven't got the user manual, you can generally download a copy from the manufacturer's website or other sites).
@buggles64 (2709)
• United States
16 Feb 11
My best guess is that is a significant year for you. I am unaware of the reason, but if you dig deep enough, you will find the answer.
I think I'll be ordering the house salad tonight.
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
16 Feb 11
It's definitely a significant year for the computer. It's usually the year that that model was built!
@adrian2626 (92)
• Philippines
28 Feb 11
the cmos battery is not working properly or its totally damage and need a replacement. hope you know what a cmos battery looks like.
