Computer Clock Slow

[kenimpzoom]

My laptop (Toshiba 2515CDS) with Win 98 will lose about 2-3 minutes per day on the clock. The cursor will begin to hesitate while I am trying to move it across the screen. Re-booting will cure the problem for a few hours, then it begins to accumulate again, as if something was stopping the clock, and interupting the cursor while it's in motion.<br /><br />Anybody have any idea what is going on.<br /><br />I did a full reinstall about 6 months ago, have had that problem since.<br /><br />Ken

 

[dperkins4]

Re: Computer Clock Slow

Sounds like something on the new install didn't install properly and/or has a memory leak. <br /><br />It could be most any piece of software but most likely "add on" not MS.

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Computer Clock Slow

Right click on "My Computer", click properties, click the device manager tab. Is anything yellow flagged or red flagged?<br /><br />Something is masking (inhibiting) interrupts on your computer for a relitively long time. Interrupts used to make the mouse go (interrupt the computer to tell it you moved the mouse) and tick the software clock, among other things. When you reboot, the software clock is loaded from the real time clock (RTC), which resets it. The RTC is not dependant on the CPU or it's interrupts.<br /><br />The only thing that I can think of that would want to mask interrupts is a driver.

 

[mellowyellow]

Re: Computer Clock Slow

maybe time to change the little battery on the<br />motherboard?

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Computer Clock Slow

No, you see, the real time clock works perfectly. That's why the time resets for him when he reboots his computer - the software clock is set by the real time clock when he boots. <br />The real time clock is powered by the battery; it's a glorified digital watch. The problem he's having is with the software clock. Don't ask why their's two clocks, it's a real historical (dumb) answer.

 

[muskyone]

Re: Computer Clock Slow

whys there 2 clocks

 

[kenimpzoom]

Re: Computer Clock Slow

Sorry I didnt expain it well. <br /><br />The clock loses a few minutes per day. When I reboot, the clock still shows the incorrect time. But the mouse hesitation problem goes away for a few hours.<br /><br />This problem and the mouse hesitation problem may be unrelated.<br /><br />I leave the laptop plugged in all the time and usually leave it on all the time.<br /><br />I really have very little running in the background, not even anti-virus (I scan weekly and never open attachements).<br /><br />Ken

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Computer Clock Slow

Can you check to see if it's loosing time while it's off?<br /><br />muskyone - the original IBM PC XT didn't come with the real time clock, so everytime you turned it on, you had to set the software clock yourself. Needless to say, that got tiresome pretty quick. So people installed real time clocks with batteries. They became standard on the very next IBM.