[gentoo-user] system clock keeps getting reset to weird times

[Robert Persson <ireneshusband@yahoo.co.uk>]

A week or two back I reset my system clock temporarily to 2001 in order to 
install a package under wine with a time-limited installer, after which I set 
it back again.   Since then I have been getting really weird and annoying 
clock behaviour.

For instance I sometimes find that the kde clock tells me that I am on UTC 
rather than PST.  At other times it tells me that I am on PST, but gives a 
time exactly 8 hours in the future.

Now it is getting even weirder because I find that when I boot up and enter 
kde, the clock shows a time approximately, but not exactly, 10 days in the 
past.  For instance the time now is 18 Nov 2005 10:03 am, but the clock 
thinks it is 8 nov 2005 7:13 am.  Yesterday at the same time it thought it 
was 8 nov 7.xx pm.

Sometimes I am able to correct the time using the kde control panel.  
Sometimes I am not and I have to use the other control panel I find in my K 
menu (which I believe to be the Gnome one, but I'm not sure).

I have enabled ntpd in my default runlevel, and /etc/init.d/ntpd status 
returns "started".  However, when I select "Set date and time automatically" 
in the kde control panel, I get the error "Unable to contact time server: 
http://www.pool.ntp.org/zone/north-america", and I get the same error no 
matter which server I select or type in.  The (Gnome?) control panel does 
allow me to select "Synchronize clock with internet servers", but when I do 
so nothing happens, no matter how many servers I select.

How can I get ntpd and/or ntp-client working properly?

This is my current /etc/ntp.conf:

restrict default noquery notrust nomodify
restrict 127.0.0.1
restrict 192.168.1.0 mask 255.255.255.0
fudge 127.127.1.0 stratum 3
driftfile /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
logfile /var/log/ntp.log
server time.nrc.ca
server ntp1.cmc.ec.gc.ca
server ntp2.cmc.ec.gc.ca
server clock.tricity.wsu.edu
server wuarchive.wustl.edu
server clock.psu.edu
server gilbreth.ecn.purdue.edu
server molecule.ecn.purdue.edu
server libra.rice.edu
server ntp.cox.smu.edu

and this is my /var/log/ntp.log:

13 Nov 15:38:34 ntpd[7996]: synchronized to LOCAL(0), stratum 5
13 Nov 15:53:30 ntpd[7996]: kernel time sync disabled 0041
13 Nov 15:54:34 ntpd[7996]: kernel time sync enabled 0001
14 Nov 05:44:27 ntpd[7996]: ntpd exiting on signal 15
 7 Nov 05:47:11 ntpd[9980]: synchronized to LOCAL(0), stratum 5
 7 Nov 05:47:11 ntpd[9980]: kernel time sync disabled 0041
 7 Nov 05:48:17 ntpd[9980]: kernel time sync enabled 0001
 7 Nov 05:56:50 ntpd[9980]: ntpd exiting on signal 15
 7 Nov 05:59:57 ntpd[10925]: synchronized to LOCAL(0), stratum 5
 7 Nov 05:59:57 ntpd[10925]: kernel time sync disabled 0041
 7 Nov 06:01:01 ntpd[10925]: kernel time sync enabled 0001
 7 Nov 06:16:23 ntpd[10925]: ntpd exiting on signal 15
14 Nov 20:29:38 ntpd[24699]: ntpd exiting on signal 15
16 Nov 21:45:26 ntpd[9972]: ntpd exiting on signal 15
16 Nov 21:45:26 ntpd[10536]: parent died before we finished, exiting
17 Nov 20:35:43 ntpd[9948]: ntpd exiting on signal 15

Note that there is no entry in the log for today (18 nov) even though I have 
attempted today (18 nov according to both me and the computer) to disable and 
reenable synchronisation through the (Gnome?) control panel.

Many thanks
Robert
-- 
Robert Persson

"Don't use nuclear weapons to troubleshoot faults."
(US Air Force Instruction 91-111, 1 Oct 1997)

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