System date resetting when rebooting (FC4)

[Robin Laing]

Stéphane Bruno wrote:
> Keith G. Robertson-Turner wrote:
> 
>> Kam Leo wrote:
>>
>>>> On Fri, 2006-06-16 at 15:51 -0500, Stéphane Bruno wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> Stéphane Bruno wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>
>>>>>>> I installed FC4 on several Dell PowerEdge servers (PowerEdge 850, 
>>>>>>> SC420, etc.), but I notice that every time I reboot the
>>>>>>> server, the system date is changed.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>
>>>>> I notice that when I shutdown I see an error printed on the screen 
>>>>> like "Syncing hardware clock to system time... timeout or 
>>>>> something" and it prints that the operation failed. Also, at 
>>>>> startup, I notice an error message, something about a timeout 
>>>>> occuring for clock tick.
>>>>
>>>>
>>
>> Check dmesg, but IMO this is either:
>>
>> a) ... A dead clock battery, or
>> b) ... A missing kernel module/parameter required for that mobo's 
>> timer functions. And/or a kernel bug.
>>
>> For the former, obviously just replacing the battery will help :)
>>
>> For the latter, try building a custom kernel RPM using the guide I 
>> wrote on: http://fedoranews.org/cms/node/414 ,and check for anything 
>> specific to your chipset.
>>
>> You mentioned that you installed FC4 onto "several" servers, but you 
>> didn't explicitly state whether or not your problem was affecting all 
>> of them. Is it just one of the machines or all of them? If it's just 
>> one, and the others are the same hardware, then I'd go with the "dead 
>> clock battery" theory.
>>
> I have the same problem on three Dell PowerEdge servers on which I 
> installed FC4. I did not have the problem though with RHEL 3.0 which is 
> installed on the fourth one.
> 
> Also, I cannot follow the previous solution because I did not install 
> any gui, so I do not have a Date/Time applet.
> 
> Please, can someone help me.
> 
> Stéphane
> 

man hwclock

hwclock is what I used in the past.

Can also be used to test if talking to the hardware clock.
-- 
Robin Laing