T60 clock issues

[theterminator93]

Okay, here's the story.

The clock on my T60 is possessed. If I turn the unit on, the time and date shown is the time I shut the computer off/hibernated etc. If I sync with an NTP server, the time and date are corrected momentarily, but then the clock jumps back a random amount (e.g. this AM I sync'd to 8:02 AM, then a few minutes later the clock said it was 7:43).

As the day moves forward, the clock runs slow and bounces around. I've already replaced the CMOS battery twice, and because the clock "bounces around" (it seems like it keeps jumping back to the time read when the system started), auto sync with NTP servers fails because the "time difference is too great" for auto-sync.

I'm thinking the clock circuit on the motherboard is fried - but I wanted second opinions before I replace the entire motherboard; it works fine otherwise.

[jronald]

Did you set the time correctly on the BIOS?

Ron

[theterminator93]

Up until now, I hadn't looked. When I went in to see what was up, the clock wasn't moving and was set at the time I last hibernated the system.

Guess that means it's new mobo time. Fortunately I've got access to a few good spares.

[TuuS]

It's unusual to see a clock do this. I've seen them reset to the default, but not just change randomly. Does this happen if you remove the harddrive?

Since the OS is able to adjust the time, it's possible (in theory) that some type of error or malware could be changing it. Try booting from a linux liveCD with no harddrive installed and see if you have the same behavior, if you do, then I would proceed with a motherboard swap.

If you cannot find a board let me know, I have several well tested boards and a couple factory sealed refurbished IBM boards that I'm selling very cheap.

[theterminator93]

The big clue to me that it was the mobo was the fact that the time wasn't moving when I went to check it in CMOS setup. Not one tick out of the second display.

One of the sites I work at had a horde of T60s, T61s and T400s dropped off as donations over the summer - The T61 and T400s were Win7 ready, but the T60s were a bit thin on HDD space and RAM as delivered, and the recipient wasn't going to spend money on hardware upgrades in addition to a Windows license - so they have been on the shelf for recycling. So I swapped boards with one with the discrete video (got spoiled! ) to see how things would fare..

The clock has been behaving normally since the new system board went in. Same HDD, Windows install etc...

[TuuS]

I swapped boards with one with the discrete video.

I hope you also swapped the heatsink/fan assembly.

[theterminator93]

My original mobo was one of the same type, so everything was identical. I just grabbed the entire base assembly (heatsink, roll cage etc.) and moved my RAM, HDD and screen onto it (much easier than swapping motherboards alone), so I got the new heatsink anyway.

So far, so good.