System date resetting when rebooting (FC4)

[Stéphane Bruno]

Keith G. Robertson-Turner wrote:

> Kam Leo wrote:
>
>>> On Fri, 2006-06-16 at 15:51 -0500, Stéphane Bruno wrote:
>>>
>>>>> Stéphane Bruno wrote:
>>>>
>
>>>>>> I installed FC4 on several Dell PowerEdge servers (PowerEdge 850, 
>>>>>> SC420, etc.), but I notice that every time I reboot the
>>>>>> server, the system date is changed.
>>>>>
>
>>>> I notice that when I shutdown I see an error printed on the screen 
>>>> like "Syncing hardware clock to system time... timeout or 
>>>> something" and it prints that the operation failed. Also, at 
>>>> startup, I notice an error message, something about a timeout 
>>>> occuring for clock tick.
>>>
>
> Check dmesg, but IMO this is either:
>
> a) ... A dead clock battery, or
> b) ... A missing kernel module/parameter required for that mobo's 
> timer functions. And/or a kernel bug.
>
> For the former, obviously just replacing the battery will help :)
>
> For the latter, try building a custom kernel RPM using the guide I 
> wrote on: http://fedoranews.org/cms/node/414 ,and check for anything 
> specific to your chipset.
>
> You mentioned that you installed FC4 onto "several" servers, but you 
> didn't explicitly state whether or not your problem was affecting all 
> of them. Is it just one of the machines or all of them? If it's just 
> one, and the others are the same hardware, then I'd go with the "dead 
> clock battery" theory.
>
I have the same problem on three Dell PowerEdge servers on which I 
installed FC4. I did not have the problem though with RHEL 3.0 which is 
installed on the fourth one.

Also, I cannot follow the previous solution because I did not install 
any gui, so I do not have a Date/Time applet.

Please, can someone help me.

Stéphane