[techtalk] Re: losing time

[Laurel Fan]

Excerpts from linuxchix: 22-Oct-100 [techtalk] Re: losing time by "Mary
E. Mulderrig"@spea 
> I wish it were that simple !!
> The more time that passes the further behind the clock
> falls. It has taken a week but know it is behind by a full four hours !

Is it possible that root sees the hardware clock and users see the
system clock?

Try the command
hwclock
and see which one is printed.

Also, what command(s) are you using to get the time?

There are basically two clocks in Linux.. the hardware clock, which is
an actual oscillator which works even when the computer is off, and
the system clock, which is what the OS thinks the time is, which is
not necessarily the time in the hardware clock.

The hardware clock can often be off (this is sometimes an early
indicator that your battery is going), and you could have something
running (you don't mention if you do) which adjusts the system clock
so it's right.