# Windows clock keeps changing date to 1/1/1601



## RealJeep (Nov 7, 2011)

Windows 7 all of a sudden started having problems with date/time keeping. Of course I went to step #1 and put in a new CMOS battery. That did not help, the CMOS time works perfectly. The issue seems to be a disconnect between Windows and the BIOS. If I reset the date/time in Windows everything works fine until next reboot when Windows loses the time/date settings again. (BIOS time is still correct)
I have reset all BIOS setting to default
I have changed Windows time sync to different servers
I have replaced the CMOS battery
I have stripped windows out and did a clean install
I also ran HIRENS which also showed the incorrect date when it loaded it's mini-WinXP OS.
Nothing has worked!

I'm guessing there is a physical disconnect between the CMOS clock and Windows (all versions). I know that when Windoze loads it hooks the time from the CMOS and starts then does a time sync with the time servers. My problem seems to be that Windoze is not picking the time up initially from the CMOS so then it sets itself as either 1/1/1601 or 1/1/2005 after rebooting. To add a strange twist to this, it does not always change the time/date during reboot, but will always change the time during a cold boot.

Is this a hardware issue.

BTW..I have scanned the HD with four different virus scanners including a boot scan and ran the fix MBR command. I'm now at a loss...


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## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

Since the CMOS battery is OK the next step is the ATX Power supply feeding the MOBO. Make sure the connections are tight. Hopefully it doesn't have to be reconfigured.


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## RealJeep (Nov 7, 2011)

All connections are tight, CMOS battery was replaced, have reset all BIOS settings to optimal.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

run

sfc /scannow


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## RealJeep (Nov 7, 2011)

Did that already, all system files check normal.

What I find MOST curious is when I loaded the HIRENS boot CD and it loaded the Mini-XP Hirens uses as it's GUI it also read 1/1/2005! So that tells me that even a boot CD that hooks the CMOS date/time couldn't hook it and defaulted to 1/1/2005.


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## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

Rare but possible. The new CMOS battery you bought was defective.


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## shawnpb (May 30, 2010)

I agree your CMOS battery is defective.


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## RealJeep (Nov 7, 2011)

Sorry to bust your bubble guys but I put a meter on the CMOS battery and it read 2.93 volts, it's a 3 volt battery.

And to complicate matters:
I just unplugged the box, cleared the CMOS with the jumper pins and rebooted to windows, it read 1/3/2005. SO I noted that time and rebooted to see what the CMOS date was since that was an odd date/time, it read 1/3/2005! So for this boot Windoze hooked the time/date off the wrong CMOS time and reported it correctly.
So all I can say is Whut da :nono:?!?!


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## shawnpb (May 30, 2010)

Edit the Bios Date. Then press F10 to save the settings.


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

If you're connected to a router, open Windows Explorer and enter the router config page to see if the time is correct there.

I had this problem with a faulty router which would adjust my Windows time by 4, 8 or 12 hours every few days, even though the CMOS battery was good, the BIOS time was correct and the Windows clock sync was working properly. Not identical to your problem but similar.


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## RealJeep (Nov 7, 2011)

Set the CMOS clock to 12/25/2009 and let the BIOS restart the box and Windoze loaded 12/25/2009 as it's date. Then shut system down normally, unplugged the box from the wall so all caps would discharge and did a cold boot. Windows registered the same incorrect 12/25/2009 date as the CMOS. Now I'm really confused. I WAS leaning towards a bad MOBO but Windows likes the same incorrect time as the CMOS. I'm wondering if when I formatted the HD before I reinstalled Win7 some stinking virus hid somewhere... I did a fix MBR before I reloaded Win7 on the HD plus deleted the partitions. Geeze... I hate being stumped by a machine!

Koala... The other box on that particular router is running Win XP and works just fine. Just to be sure I'll go into the router settings and look but if the router affects one box all boxes on that particular netword should be affected.

*** Checked the time on the router, it was spot on...

I would flash the BIOS if I could find a update to it. Does anyone know of a good bios update site that isn't going to charge me for a bios update?


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## shawnpb (May 30, 2010)

RealJeep said:


> I would flash the BIOS if I could find a update to it. Does anyone know of a good bios update site that isn't going to charge me for a bios update?



Your manufacture of your motherboard should have a BIOS update if any.

Use with caution!!!


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## RealJeep (Nov 7, 2011)

It's a Micro Star board and their tech support sucks!
The board is probably trash anyway since there's no logical conclusion to this problem so what's it going to hurt to flash the BIOS?


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## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

If it's really trash nothing. If not, it could become trash. What JB24 was saying is flashing is ""iffy". I try to leave things as they are unless the update is super useful.


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## jenae (Jun 17, 2008)

Hi, the windows time service is running? From an elevated cmd prompt type:-

net start w32time (press enter)


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## RealJeep (Nov 7, 2011)

I "think" I have solved the mysterious date/time problem.

I believe that this was a MalWare issue and the MalWare had somehow gotten into a small system partition on the HD. Of course no virus scanner that I used scanned this partition because it had no drive letter nor any reasonable function that I know of. It may have served some video caching function because the NVidia files appeared to be the intiially corrupted files.

Upon my first drive wipe all I did was install the Win7 CD and hit format and install. I really paid no mind to the system partition I saw on the HD of about 400M because I have seen these many times before. When Windoze formatted C:\ the virus was unaffected because it was not living in the C drive/partition. So naturally when Windows installed the virus came back to life hopping across the partition like it was not even there.

The second time I stripped the OS from the HD I did not use the Windoze 7 disc but used a 3rd party app to completely wipe the drive including all partitions and MBR. What I had then was a completely clean HD with noplace for anything to hide because the entire drive is unformatted.

I reinstalled Win7 with no partitions and it has worked perfectly since yesterday and many reboots, both cold, warm and total unplugged capicitor discharged, cold iron boots! Everything as of this time appears to be functioning normally.

Moral of this story?
When scanning for malware, viruses, etc... *MAKE SURE if there is a partition on your HD that it has a drive letter and your virus scanner can get to it. Learn from my lesson the easy way, I already did it the hard way and it sucked.*


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks for posting back with your solution. :smile:


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## RealJeep (Nov 7, 2011)

Not a problem Koala but this also opens up another box of questions for me.
*What virus is capable if installing itself on to an un-lettered partition?
*Why did it only screw with the clocks "proper time"? (When I set the clock to a bogus date/time it never changed it)
*I'm assuming my son caught this from Facebook and may have been the KoobFace worm. This is a common virus, why didn't AVG catch it?
*Why did not reinstall itself from the partition back onto C:\?


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

infections have a way of worming their way into wherever they want

check the computer is now clean

http://www.techsupportforum.com/for...-posting-for-malware-removal-help-305963.html


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