Kubuntu Lucid (10.04)--I am on dialup, so the NTP time server isn't available continuously, additionally, I shut the machine down at night. The panel (or for that matter, the settings module) typically shows the time the machine shutdown the previous night, and often doesn't update for hours in spite of occasionally going on line for mail, etc.

This was not the case with previous Ubuntus, which had available an extra module explicitly for such situations, but Lucid doesn't. What I noticed recently is that the kernel log apparently uses the CMOS clock time during boots, and later, even though KDE seems unaware of it.

Does anyone have a suggested solution or hack for this?

Thanks

If you open Konsole, and enter "date" does the time shown match what the panel indicates?

I'll check this in the morning after having shut it down this evening. The two agree now, but the panel clock synced this morning at some point after going on line for email, etc., as it usually does. I suspect that they will be different, as I recall noticing that syslog doesn't generally reflect any such weirdness.

You're correct: the panel clock and the Konsole date returned exactly the same time this morning, namely, 23:55 December 1st (clock has now readjusted) and I took a look at the kernel log and it also reflected the incorrect time. I can't rationalize the memory I had of the syslog entries, but I probably slipped a cog there.

Anyway, have you any fix for this? If not, just knowing that there's no point in looking for one would be welcome.

Thanks,
Joe

I'd check that the clock is correct in the BIOS first, it sounds like it is losing track of time. Otherwise, check your timezone configuration.

I've checked the time-zone selection repeatedly, over the time this has been happening (since installing Lucid) and it has never changed, always been correct. Have checked the BIOS clock a number of times, also, but it occurs to me that I have never checked it after the machine has been off for overnight--i.e., always have checked after noticing the panel clock error and (possibly, therefore, correcting the BIOS clock). I will check after the next period of shutdown. Could well be the lithium cell, since the machine is about 7 years old.

Thanks again,
Joe

There is no problem with the CMOS--the machine clock is quite stable. I have now concluded that the OS clock (whether it is something from KDE or Canonical, or still some other group) stops whenever the machine is shut off, typically each night. If I leave the machine on, in order to download large upgrades, then the clock is just fine. In all cases, the BIOS clock is fine. The OS clock will update if I connect by KPPP but it usually takes about fifteen minutes. Probably the frequency the NTP client is programmed to sample.

What I have now noticed that is added to the mix is that the older versions of Kubuntu (Hardy, Jaunty, Karmic) all on the same machine are exhibiting the same behaviour. I do not *think* that they did this before, though I could easily be mistaken, which suggests some change in the code somewhere.

This is likely to be a bug with the Linux Kernel or Ubuntu startup procedure and your machine, KDE can't do anything to fix either of these unfortunately.

Thank you, bcooksley, for your efforts on this. Searching has yielded no answer, but I have found some word that some motherboards (I didn't find explicit information, but mine is a GigaByte GA K8NSpro) apparently have had problems keeping some of the CMOS parameters live when the power is shut off, in spite of perfectly good power cells, and that special efforts had been made in some of the BIOSes to rewrite the data for such cases. That is more extreme than my experience, but conceivably could be related.

Thanks again.