Gentoo Archives: gentoo-amd64

From: Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@×××.net>
To: gentoo-amd64@l.g.o
Subject: [gentoo-amd64] Re: hardware clock often doesn't sync to system on shutdown
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2008 08:45:00
Message-Id: pan.2008.09.14.08.44.00@cox.net
In Reply to: [gentoo-amd64] hardware clock often doesn't sync to system on shutdown by Thanasis
1 Thanasis <thanasis@××××××××××.org> posted 48CA0929.60003@××××××××××.org,
2 excerpted below, on Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:16:09 +0300:
3
4 > I have a laptop (Gateway T-1625), set up with ntpd to sync the system
5 > time (with the "-s" option in /etc/conf.d/ntpd) to a local system of the
6 > LAN.
7 > What happens is tha although it syncs the system time successfully, it
8 > often fails to sync the hardware clock during shutdown although I have
9 > set CLOCK_SYSTOHC="yes" in /etc/conf.d/clock, and so I see those "One of
10 > the files in /etc/{conf.d,init.d} or /etc/rc.conf has a modification
11 > time in the future!" boot messages. Then I can confirm the difference in
12 > time using the commands "date" and "hwclock --show" which shows the
13 > difference, eg:
14 >
15 > # hwclock --show && date
16 > Thu 11 Sep 2008 09:55:22 PM EEST -0.228853 seconds
17 > Fri Sep 12 08:58:30 EEST 2008
18
19 EEST = Eastern European Summer Time, UTC+300, correct? (Just wikipediad
20 it)
21
22 Given the 11 hour time difference reported above, this may not be your
23 problem, but here, I'm MST, (US Mountain Standard Time, UTC-700), and at
24 one point I was having problems with a 14 hour difference because the
25 system (clock init script? something anyway) was adjusting the wrong
26 direction, UTC+700 instead of UTC-700. Obviously, that created
27 problems...
28
29 So... check your time zone settings.
30
31 You may also want to step thru the init script logically and figure out
32 what command it's actually using (or add a set -x right before the
33 hwclock call, and a set +x right after, so you get the line from bash,
34 running the initscript manually to see what it spits out), then issue the
35 same exact command on the command line, where you can see the error
36 output if any. I remember doing this while troubleshooting my problem
37 (which eventually got fixed) here.
38
39 FWIW I run ntp also, and have clock set to sync at shutdown. I've not
40 had any problems since whatever it was that time got fixed. I'm still
41 not sure exactly what was screwed up, but being 14 hours off until I got
42 networking and started ntp wasn't fun, I'll tell you that!
43
44 I also have the local clock set to local (UTC-700) time. That's not
45 recommended for those who have time changes twice a year (except for
46 those dual booting MS whatever, since it only does local time, IIRC), but
47 AZ is one of the states here in the US that doesn't, so I don't have to
48 worry about it.
49
50 So that's something else to consider. You may have better luck toggling
51 the system and hwclock to the other of UTC or local. I was about to give
52 up and switch to UTC here, just to see if it would work, when either
53 something I did or a package update fixed it and it just started
54 working... <shrug>
55
56 Finally, since you run ntp, it's not really vital that you have the
57 hwclock synced /exactly/ anyway. Try setting your hardware clock from
58 the BIOS... if it's off a few seconds, no biggee, the ntp sync with fix
59 it. You can then turn the shutdown sync off, if desired, and just let
60 the hardware clock run on its own, updating it manually if it gets too
61 far off. By combining that with toggling UTC/local, and/or purposefully
62 setting the hardware clock a few minutes ahead, you should be able to
63 avoid the future filetime warnings, since the difference would be putting
64 the filetimes in the past instead of the future. Just don't get too
65 carried away, because rc uses those filetimes to track whether it needs
66 to recache its service dependencies, etc, and if you have the hwclock set
67 too far ahead, it won't detect config changes you've made and end up
68 using stale data.
69
70 --
71 Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs.
72 "Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
73 and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman

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Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-amd64] Re: hardware clock often doesn't sync to system on shutdown Thanasis <thanasis@××××××××××.org>