[CentOS] Strange issue with system time being off

Fri Aug 10 00:11:02 UTC 2012
Russell Jones <arjones85 at gmail.com>

On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 6:59 PM, Woodchuck <marmot at pennswoods.net> wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 09, 2012 at 04:40:19PM -0700, Craig White wrote:
>>
>> On Aug 9, 2012, at 2:26 PM, Russell Jones wrote:
>>
>> >>
>> >> Here's a question: run hwclock, then, when you reboot, go into the BIOS,
>> >> and see what the time is.
>> >>
>> >>      mark
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Thanks Mark. "hwclock" showed the right time before reboot. After
>> > reboot, entering BIOS it still showed the correct local time. After
>> > the server came up, "date" is slow by 5 hours.
>
> Let's back up a bit.  I bet Mr Jones, the OP, is in the US central
> time zone, which right now is 5 hours earlier than UTC.  I'm betting
> the hardware clock is set to UTC, but that Centos believes that the
> hw clock is set to local time, i.e. CST6CDT.  (That is how it would
> be set for Windoze.)  There is some pitiful setting to correct the
> Windoze problem, and it is being applied.  It shouldn't be.
>
> Reboot, set bios clock to UTC.  Then track down wherever Centos
> gets the idea that you have a dual boot windows machine whose clock
> is set to local time, and whack that.
>
> I'm reasonably confident that this is the problem.  The "exactly
> five hours off" is what clued me.
>
> I think some others up-thread have been hinting about this, at least
> indirectly.
>
> Dave
> --
>    The principles of accounting are not arbitrary. They are natural law.
>                         -- Mencius Moldbug
>
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Hi Dave, Robert,

Thanks for the help!

Dave: There are no options for time zones in the BIOS clock. The time
is just "there" to be set. It is currently set to 7:08 PM, which is
the current Central Time.

Robert: Great idea! I am fairly certain that is a good direction to go
in. I will check this on Tuesday (next time I am in the office).