Hi

I have an Acer laptop running Win 7, which is a couple of years old and has developed the anoying habit of changing the time and date every couple of times I startup. Used to happen every once in a blue moon but now happens just about everyday. I know it's no big deal to reset but there must be some reason for this. Any non-techie advice would be greatly appreciated

Sounds like the CMOS battery is knackered.

totster

The non techy version of the above;

Inside your laptop is a small watch-type(ish) battery that acts as a back up to your main battery, just to keep your time and date settings, should your main battery be totally flat.

It should charge off your main battery, but after a while, like all rechargeable batteries, they die.

Normally if your main battery is never completely flat, then this isn't a problem,

Do you run with out a battery, i.e. just plugged in to AC power?

If you always have some charge in your laptop, then it would indicate that the back-up battery has completely died, or the connection to the battery has broken.

Either way, fixing it or replacing it should be pretty cheap.

likely it is just the CMOS battery problem, it is a minor issue.

your computer has 2 independent batteries. the main battery keeps your laptop running and is rechargeable. the second one is a tiny built-in battery to maintain the hardware setting, including the date/time. your description matches the issue from the built-in battery - the CMOS battery.

solutions :

1) bring the computer to the ACER services, it is a minor fix

2) bring the computer to Pantip ( if you know a good repair shop )

3) buy the replacement battery and follow the user / service manual ( if you could manage )

oh . . . one reminder : clean the battery contact during the replacement.

It could also be your fake copy of Windows, google it.

There is one other possibility. If the time and date are being changed to just one day or several hours away, it could be that time auto-synchronization is enabled. If your computer thinks it's in your home country it will auto-synch to the wrong time and date. I have this happen to me from time to time (no pun intended).

Click on your clock/date, click on "change time and date settings..." Click on "Internet time" tab. Click on "Change Settings" and make sure "Synchonize with internet clocks" is unchecked.

Good luck.

There is one other possibility. If the time and date are being changed to just one day or several hours away, it could be that time auto-synchronization is enabled. If your computer thinks it's in your home country it will auto-synch to the wrong time and date. I have this happen to me from time to time (no pun intended).

Click on your clock/date, click on "change time and date settings..." Click on "Internet time" tab. Click on "Change Settings" and make sure "Synchonize with internet clocks" is unchecked.

Good luck.

As you say this is a possibility. However why disable synchronization? Whenever I travel to a new time zone and will be there for more than a few hours, I change the time zone settings to coincide with where I am. Then my computer clock will always stay accurate.

I too do suspect a faulty CMOS battery though.

Thanks everyone for your help. Looks like a quick easy fix for a change. Cheers Jacko