[CentOS] Strange issue with system time being off

Thu Aug 9 19:33:31 UTC 2012
Russell Jones <arjones85 at gmail.com>

Hi all,

I am having an issue with some older CentOS 5.3 servers. Every time
the server boots, it gives the error "Cannot access the hardware clock
by any known method", and then promptly sets the time 5 hours behind
the hardware clock, down to the second.

After the system is up. "hwclock" works fine. hwclock --debug does not
show any error at all.

The hardware clock is configured in local time. /etc/sysconfig/clock
is set to UTC=false and ZONE="America/Chicago". /etc/localtime is a
copy of Chicago's zone file. /etc/adjtime is configured with "LOCAL"
as the third row. I am at a loss as to what is causing this.

Any assistance is appreciated! Thanks!