W98 Time/Date Properties (Clock)

J

Jonssen

New member
W98 Time/Date Properties (Clock)

Something wierd happened yesterday. I went to bed about midnight the previous night leaving the PC running and on-line at several IE pages that I was mid-way though reading. When I got back to the PC in the morning the mouse cursor movements were slow and juddery. (Interrupt timing?) I closed one innocuous IE window (no flash ads. etc) and it returned to normal speed. Then I noticed the task-bar clock was reading around 02:30 whereas it was around 09:00am. Clicking on that to pull up the time/date function I tried to correct the time but the up-down buttons were greyed out and I could not type in the text box. I could change day/month/year. I tried to change time zone - it would not have it (not responding).

I re-booted and it will now accept a time zone change (and day/month/year) but not a time change. To change the time I have to go either into a DOS window or into the CMOS config. I must admit I don't often change the time and it may be a year since I last tried, but I'm perplexed as to why I can't use Windows Time/Date Properties to do so now. Other than that the clock seems to be running normally.

I googled the web but couldn't find a similar occurance report.

I ran Hijackthis, plus McAfee and a BitDefender on-line scans and that picked up nothing unusual. (Mental note: BitDefender changes things automatically! Grrr... maybe I missed a check-box in haste!)

I'm wondering if this clock issue is due to a failing (exhausted) CMOS battery?

Anyone got a clue?

Cheers, Bob.
 
You might be able to fix the problem. But to do it this way you must do it soon. (Depends on how many days of good registry backups remain.)

Boot in to DOS mode.

Run Scanreg.

Make a backup of your current regisitry with it.

Then choose to restore the registry option. Pick the latest date which the clock worked good.

This might fix the problem. If it doesn't you can restore the registry back using the same program and the backup you had just made.
 
PaulWin98SE said:
You might be able to fix the problem. But to do it this way you must do it soon. (Depends on how many days of good registry backups remain.)

Boot in to DOS mode.

Run Scanreg.

Make a backup of your current regisitry with it.

Then choose to restore the registry option. Pick the latest date which the clock worked good.

This might fix the problem. If it doesn't you can restore the registry back using the same program and the backup you had just made.
Click to expand...
Actually you can do this from the dos prompt in windows:

C:\WINDOWS>scanreg /?

Windows Registry Checker

Usage: SCANREG [/<option>]

<option>
? : Displays usage.
BACKUP : Backup the registry and related system configuration files.
RESTORE : Choose a backup to restore.
FIX : Repair the registry.
COMMENT="<comment>"
: Adds the specified comment to the CAB file while backing up.
Click to expand...

C:\WINDOWS\scanreg /backup

C:\WINDOWS\scanreg /restore

There may be only 4 or 5 backup registries. So the longer one waits to use this option to fix a problem, one can miss the yet available good backedup registries.
 
Hi Paul,
As I said originally, "I must admit I don't often change the time and it may be a year since I last tried" so I've no chance of knowing when it last worked fine.

Scanreg reports that there are no problems with the registry, so presumably if I try the "fix" option, it will tell me there's nothing to fix.

But do you know that its a registry problem?

BTW, it's not a CMOS battery issue - I replaced it. Also you have to boot in DOS to restore the registry - it won't work whilst running windoz (well with W98, anyway).

Tks, Bob.
 
Jonssen said:
Hi Paul,
As I said originally, "I must admit I don't often change the time and it may be a year since I last tried" so I've no chance of knowing when it last worked fine.

Scanreg reports that there are no problems with the registry, so presumably if I try the "fix" option, it will tell me there's nothing to fix.

But do you know that its a registry problem?

BTW, it's not a CMOS battery issue - I replaced it. Also you have to boot in DOS to restore the registry - it won't work whilst running windoz (well with W98, anyway).

Tks, Bob.
Click to expand...

Hi Bob,

I'm sorry you didn't understand. You need to restore a past saved good registry. (While any of them are still there!!) (One before the clock problem) It is not that a registry is bad, rather some settings may have been changed (corrupted) which has nothing to do with repairing the registry.

c:\WINDOWS\scanreg /restore

I learned the hard way more than once. (Once should have been enough.) Just receintly I lost my desktop and video settings. (Shortly after restoring Spybot 1.4. And seemingly unrelated.) Rather than going through the task of reseting everything over again, I restored the last registry before the problem. Problem fixed.

Best regards,
Paul
 
Last edited:
Hi Paul,
I understand - but perhaps you have missed the point? I said I don't know when it last worked - i.e. I don't know when the "taskbar clock" / "up/down greyed out" problem originated - it may have been a long time ago - a year or more. Clearly beyond the date of any registry back-ups. Registry backups do not even preceed the date of the "interrupt timing issue". That may, or may not, be connected with the "taskbar clock" / "up/down greyed out" problem - I cannot say they are connected or just coincidental.
Thanks, Bob.
 
Just adding a suggestion or two, have you maybe tried getting another clock program and running it? There are more than a few out there. That might correct your problem. If I understand correctly, you are in win98? if so, I do not believes windows supports any updates for it anymore, but you may be able to find some archive files on its' site. I suggest this only because it sounds like your taskbar clock program is corrupted. If I am way off base here, please forgive the interruption :)
 
Jonssen said:
Hi Paul,
I understand - but perhaps you have missed the point? I said I don't know when it last worked - i.e. I don't know when the "taskbar clock" / "up/down greyed out" problem originated - it may have been a long time ago - a year or more. Clearly beyond the date of any registry back-ups. Registry backups do not even preceed the date of the "interrupt timing issue". That may, or may not, be connected with the "taskbar clock" / "up/down greyed out" problem - I cannot say they are connected or just coincidental.
Thanks, Bob.
Click to expand...
Hi Bob,
Yes, I guess I did miss that. :oops:

I use the TClockEx program, which the author wrote out of frustration with the system tray clock. http://www.pcworld.com/search/results?col=down&qt=TClockEx

If your system mother board has a CMOS back up battery, the battery might need replacing.(?)

If the battery is good, then check out this article and see if there is any info there that might be of help: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=189706&fr=1

If you haven't aready ran the sfc (system file checker) you might try that.

If you know the name of the Windows file from which the system clock runs, (I don't know which file it is or I would mention it) you can use the SFC to restore the file from the CAB file. (Windows CD WIN98 directory or Windows/options/cabs directory or WIN98 directory if that is what the CABS directory is named on your hard drive.)

Best regards,
Paul
 
Hi Bob,

After checking using System Internal's Process Explore, clicking the mouse on Adjust Date/Time runs Rundll32.exe and its Mutex OLESCMLOCMUTEX. And what file the Rundll32.exe is executing I don't know.

Respectfully,
Paul
 
Hi Bob,

Well, :oops: again.

The file you want to look at restoring using sfc is the timedate.cpl control panel. And if that doesn't fix it, check the properties (versions) and file dates of the following dlls:

ADVAPI32.DLL
COMCTL32.DLL
GDI32.DLL
KERNEL32.DLL
SHELL32.DLL
SHLWAPI.DLL
USER32.DLL

If any of them have a file date older than your OS file dates, that dll might be the problem.

Use the sfc to replace the suspect dll(s). Any newer dll(s) you might want to place a copy of them in some kind of hold folder be for you replace them and untill you sort the problem out.

respectfully,
Paul
 
Hello Paul,

I've tried all those things you suggested but without any success. I'm wondering if it was changed by a windows update at some time - but as you say, that would be a while back as W98 support was withdrawn some time back and I can't find anything to this effect on the MS site.

There are no registry calls for "timedate.cpl" as far as I can see, so it seems all rather odd... :scratch:

AFAIK the clock's running normally at the moment apart from that so I think I'll just ignore it!

Cheers, Bob.
 
Hi Bob,

I use a program called nistime-32bit.exe to set my time. So I'm not using the timedate control panel up and down dialog box arrows anyway.

And I found this command line which can be used from the RUN or at Windows DOS command prompt or in a batch file:

rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL timedate.cpl
Click to expand...



A side question: Did you ever get your daylight savings time change updated in your W98?

In the W98 resource kit there is a tool to do this. And there is a registry patch (for 98 & Me) and also a third party exe program avialable to patch this.

Best regards,
Paul
 
Last edited:
Hi Paul,

A side question: Did you ever get your daylight savings time change updated in your W98?
Click to expand...

I've not had a problem with this (apart from a momentary anomoly which fixed itself on re-boot) and it works normally and updates when it should.

Bob.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top