System time synchronization | HW problem?

[Clinton MacDonald]

Mr. Holst:

Bill Fink wrote:
> On Mon Jan 3 2005, Alexander Holst wrote:
> 
>> My problem is: I do _not_ need _new_ hardware, I need to know what is
>> broken in my existing hardware! All indications I have, lead to the
>> conclusion, that what I want to do with my Wallstreet under YDL 3.0
>> should very well be possible, but some HW part regarding the clock
>> syncronisation _must_ be defective! And this is what I would like to
>> find out. Then I can replace that part and my life will be a lot easier
>>;)
> 
> Is it possible that the battery that powers the PRAM is dead (not the
> laptop bettery but a small battery that maintains the PRAM info even
> when the laptop battery is disconnected)?

I vote with Mr. Fink that perhaps your PRAM battery is dead. Your 
problems might be similar to those I had with an older Wallstreet 
PowerBook that had a dead PRAM battery. Things were fine so long as I 
did not remove the mains power or the removable battery.

However, one other possibility is that (I think) the Mac OS and Linux 
determine date and time differently. The Mac OS (again, my memory might 
be faulty here) sets the hardware and system clocks independently 
(essentially ignoring the hardware clock), whereas Linux sets the 
hardware clock to UTC, then calculates local time from your time zone. 
Or something like that. It is possible to ask Linux to set the hardware 
clock differently (I know it asks a cryptic question of that sort during 
installation), so perhaps you could experiment with this.

Sorry I have so few definitive answers, but it may be something to look 
into.

On the other hand, if your Mac is older than four or five years, I would 
suspect the PRAM battery first.

Good luck!

> I started with Linux on Macs in the days of
> MkLinux DR2 & DR3 on NuBus machines, then LinuxPPC then YDL & others.

Now *that's* cool!

Best wishes,
Clint

-- 
Dr. Clinton C. MacDonald | <mailto:clint DOT macdonald AT sbcglobal DOT net>