Clock Resets to January 1st 2004 after reboot

[chicojones]

I have a Compaq nx9030 laptop with WinXP Service Pack 2, and when it is rebooted the time sets back to 01/01/2004. I contacted HP and they sent me a Flash for the BIOS, but it still sets back to that time. Any ideas? When the user is on the domain, it really doesn't matter because they get their time from the Domain Controller, but when they are in the field, it causes some serious problems. Thanks in advance.

 

[linney]

Is the Cmos Battery in need of replacement?

 

[bcastner]

Do not think this is a battery issue. My guess is that if you go into the BIOS the CMOS clock will appear correctly.

I believe Compaq tech support is correct it is a BIOS issue with ACPI. From an early Windows 2000 note: "After you install Windows 2000 and reboot, you may receive a message stating that the system's date and time are invalid. When this occurs, the date may be set for January 1, 1601, or another invalid date, and the clock may be counting the time from 12:00 A.M.

If you reset the date and time correctly and boot to another operating system (such as Microsoft Windows NT, Microsoft Windows 95, or Microsoft Windows 98), the date and time remain accurate after rebooting. However, the problem occurs whenever you boot into Windows 2000.

CAUSE
This behavior can occur if the computer's BIOS is not 100 percent Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) compliant. The BIOS may contain invalid entries in the HalpFixedAcpiDescTable table. "

My guess:

There should be a way in BIOS setup to reset the BIOS ECSD defaults. It might be called "reset system default values" or something similar. Do so. Then reboot and enter the BIOS setup again. Make any corrections necessary, save them, and reboot again.

Now try to enter XP normally.

No matter what this is an interaction between your BIOS and its ACPI and the HAL chosen at intallation. You might ask Compaq tech support what Hardware Abstraction Layer is required for an XP installation. Compaq used to ship its own HAL for use in XP -- for more information, see:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;299340