Re: updating of CMOS clock

["Salman Ahmed" <ssahmed@pathcom.com>]

>>>>> "LP" == Laurent PICOULEAU <lcrpic@a2points.com> writes:
    LP> Yes, that's it. Why do you worry of not having a BIOS option for
    LP> GMT ? I guess that you don't have an option for your TIMEZONE
    LP> neither do you ?

Nope, no option for timezone, etc. in the BIOS just date and time.

    >> # CONFIG_APM_CPU_IDLE is not set
    LP>  IMHO you should enable this one not only for power saving but
    LP> to avoid overheating of your proc.

Ok. I recompiled my kernel with changes only in the APM
configuration. Here is the current APM configuration:

  @phoenix:[/usr/tmp/linux] grep APM .config
  CONFIG_APM=y
  # CONFIG_APM_IGNORE_USER_SUSPEND is not set
  # CONFIG_APM_DO_ENABLE is not set
  CONFIG_APM_CPU_IDLE=y
  # CONFIG_APM_DISPLAY_BLANK is not set
  CONFIG_APM_POWER_OFF=y
  # CONFIG_APM_IGNORE_MULTIPLE_SUSPEND is not set
  # CONFIG_APM_IGNORE_SUSPEND_BOUNCE is not set
  CONFIG_APM_RTC_IS_GMT=y
  # CONFIG_APM_ALLOW_INTS is not set

I decided to enable CONFIG_APM_RTC_IS_GMT since I have changed my
CMOS/HW clock to store time in GMT now.


    LP> Have a look in your /etc/adjtime file, the first value of the
    LP> first line should be in the neighboroud (spelling ???) of zero
    LP> (being out of [-30;30] is unusual). Having here a value of 720
    LP> would make you loose 3 hours in 15 days. It has nothing to do
    LP> with BIOS or APM option...

Here is the current /etc/adjtime:

  1.970223 942000929 0.000000
  942000929

Not sure how the time on my system got so out of hand!

In the numerous time-related threads that have been discussed on this
list ovet the past few weeks, someone pointed out that certain APM
options reset the time each time the system is rebooted and suggested
that I remove APM support from my kernel config. I thought that was
strange advice since I was not having this problem with RedHat, only
Debian.

    LP>  
    LP> for a (pure) slink system you set this (usage of GMT or local
    LP> time) in /etc/default/rcS
    >>  Here is the relevant setting from my /etc/default/rcS:
    >> 
    >> # Set GMT="-u" if your system clock is set to GMT, and GMT="" if
    >> not.  GMT=""
    >> 
    LP> Same thing here for slink and hamm. It is coherent with your
    LP> choices regarding APM unless potato uses an other way to set
    LP> this point.

I have changed the above setting in /etc/default/rcS to GMT="-u" since
my CMOS/HW clock is now storing time in GMT.

In any event, I'll see how the time is maintained on my system over the
next couple of weeks. If it still drifts a lot, I will then look into
NTP and related packages.

Thanks for your help.

-- 
Salman Ahmed
ssahmed AT pathcom DOT com