computer time slipping back

[Davidb]

Since we had a few power cuts last week,  the Weather Station computer clock seems to want to run 45 or so minutes late:

http://www.glassonsailing.co.uk/weather.html

on the windows clock I have disabled both "auto adjust" and "auto syc to windows time server" , but the problem still persists.

any ideas where to look please?

very strange, I have reset it 3 or 4 times now, but it keeps slipping,   David

[DanS]

Have you checked the p.c.'s internal CMOS battery? If it's starting to get low then the clock may be effected as a result. Also, why not use the online clock sync and have it update frequently?

[mackbig]

My older wx pc did this also. It happened right after installing my Boltek, but pretty sure it was coincidental, and my cmos battery just decided to start dying about the same time.  I solved it with a tweat to the timing of the window pc time update, reg hack made it update faster than the lowest selectable frequency via the gui.

Andrew

[Davidb]

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Thanks for those replies.

It is a remote computer, so I shall change the battery when I am next on site. The surprising thing is that the time slips even when the comp stays powered up - I thought that the battery was just to see it through power cuts.

David
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[Bushman]

Write down any custom CMOS settings before you change the battery as they will get reset.

[WeatherHost]

You want the PC clock to auto sync to a remote time server.  I'm sure there are a few in the UK.  It should check at least once a day.

[mackbig]

That's what I thought as well but I would lose quite a bit of time over the course of the day on a pc running 24/7.   Can remember what frequency I ended up with, something like 10 or 30 minutes.

Found my original thread.  there is a link to a third party app that syncs, and instructions on how to tweak the native windows settings to update more frequently.

http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=2838.0

Andrew

It is a remote computer, so I shall change the battery when I am next on site. The surprising thing is that the time slips even when the comp stays powered up - I thought that the battery was just to see it through power cuts.

[DanS]

If the battery swap doesn't do it you can also tweak the clock auto sync rate with your pc's registry settings in "regedit". Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\w32time\TimeProviders\NtpClient there is a SpecialPollInterval that can be set for sync rate.

I have mine set (wx PC) to update every 6 hours for the same reason you mention, clock drift,and it stays on time this way.

[WeatherHost]

If a PC clock is drifting more than a few seconds in a week, there is some other problem.

[W3DRM]

While it is true that the PC clock should not be drifting as much as some of you are indicating, there are ways of ensuring that your PC time is accurate.

Ham radio operators using digital modes of communication run into the need to maintain their computers at very tight time constraints (within a second or so) so they and other users around the world are in sync on a 24/7 basis. We do not use the standard Microsoft provided time standards to do this. There are many different software packages available to keep you in sync. Personally, I use a package from Meinberg in Germany to keep all of my computers in time-sync. I've used for over a year now and have never had any problems with it. It just runs in the background and keeps my clock accurate, all the time. A link to their site follows:

• http://www.meinberg.de/english/sw/ntp.htm

Just make sure you explicitly follow their instructions and you shouldn't have any problems at all.

[Davidb]

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I had a hunch and it seemed to be right - before connecting the weatherstation ( a Davies VP ) you need to install and run a programme called weatherlink. This is usually a one - off operation.

But then you stop it and run VWS ( virtual weather station - our normal programme )

so I went on weatherlink and changed the time setting and away we go.

I have also reinstated the windows time synchronizing option with daylight saving.

See how it goes, its been fine all day,

thanks for suggestions. cheers, David

[Weather Display]

do you mean that the time on the VP console was not set correct, and the software was setting the pc time to that
and now you have corrected the time on the console
or?

[WeatherHost]

If the time on the weather console is wrong, syncing the PC and the console will set the PC to the incorrect console time.  Or so I've always found.  I've never found a way to set the console time to the PC time.

[Davidb]

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Yes, the console time was wrong, so I corrected it with Weatherlink

david

[SLOweather]

FWIW, you can also set the time from the console from the keypad by putting it in setup mode. It's fast and easy. The instructions are in the console manual.

[Weather Display]

I've never found a way to set the console time to the PC time.

there is 3rd party software that can be set to do that, auto, daily
(the davis console time can drift a bit,especialy if your AC frequency is not always up to par, unless running on batteries only)