T42p RTC losing time

[sjthinkpader]

I think my be loved T42p had bit the dust. The RTC was losing time. So I replaced the CMOS battery. Still loses time. Any ideas?

[rkawakami]

If it's a matter of a random number of minutes and not full hours, then I'd assume that the clock circuitry on the motherboard is being affected. Based upon what I know about RTC, there should be a crystal on the board (one of possibly several) that is used to keep time. Look for a part that is stamped with "10.000" or "32.768". Check to see if there's a loose solder joint on that part.

[MnR]

Hi,

It may sound stupid, But did you check the voltage on the battery? I have had new batteries out of the package that was a little low.

MnR

[sjthinkpader]

Thanks for the suggestions. It was random minutes.

I took the chance and did the much delayed upgrade to a waiting T43p. Now I have time to take it apart and take a look.

[sjthinkpader]

Interesting update:

I cloned the old drive (WD160GB) in the T42p and put the new drive (WD250GB) in the T43p 2668-WSA. Ran flawlessly for a few days. Went on a trip, came back and the new machine lost time. Installation is a very old WindowsXP SP3 carried from quite a few machines ago.

Is this a software problem, a virus?