Clock resets to 1970 on power off!

[rjcroy]

I have been wondering why my Kobo Touch has not been putting the book I am reading in 1st place on the front page.

Today I realised that it is because the Kobo is not keeping time! If I power it off and then on again the clock resets to 27 January 1970. Then I have to connect to Wifi to get it to synchronise the clock again. It's a real pain because the firmware is buggy if the clock is not set correctly.

Has this happened to anyone else, or have you heard of it happening?

[murg]

Originally Posted by rjcroy

I have been wondering why my Kobo Touch has not been putting the book I am reading in 1st place on the front page.

Today I realised that it is because the Kobo is not keeping time! If I power it off and then on again the clock resets to 27 January 1970. Then I have to connect to Wifi to get it to synchronise the clock again. It's a real pain because the firmware is buggy if the clock is not set correctly.

Has this happened to anyone else, or have you heard of it happening?

Hmmm... I can understand the clock resetting itself to 1 Jan 1970, but not the 27th.

[rjcroy]

Yeah, that is strange aye. 27 Jan 1970, 8:48 am to be precise. Odd.

[buffaloseven]

Hmm...any sort of problem like that seems to be to only have 1 of two solutions:

1. Factory reset and see if it rights itself.
2. A battery on one of the boards is failing and needs to be replaced. May or may not actually be doable on one of these.

#2 is a long shot, but can often be the source of date-related problems on computers.

[crich70]

Hmm odd. Talk about back in time. I wasn't even a bit of good news for my mother yet back then. lol.

[Uschiekid]

Originally Posted by rjcroy

I have been wondering why my Kobo Touch has not been putting the book I am reading in 1st place on the front page.

Today I realised that it is because the Kobo is not keeping time! If I power it off and then on again the clock resets to 27 January 1970. Then I have to connect to Wifi to get it to synchronise the clock again. It's a real pain because the firmware is buggy if the clock is not set correctly.

Has this happened to anyone else, or have you heard of it happening?

Try setting the time manually. Setting the time through wi-fi only works as long as you have wi-fi enabled.

To manually change the date and time, go to settings-->Date and time. Then tap on the date, time zone and time each to set correctly.

Done manually, it should stay consistent. Setting by synching actually doesn't work at all, it just appears to temporarily.

[rjcroy]

Originally Posted by Uschiekid

Try setting the time manually. Setting the time through wi-fi only works as long as you have wi-fi enabled.

To manually change the date and time, go to settings-->Date and time. Then tap on the date, time zone and time each to set correctly.

Done manually, it should stay consistent. Setting by synching actually doesn't work at all, it just appears to temporarily.

A ha! Setting the time manually worked! Thanks very much for this tip. I had assumed that I couldn't set the time manually, and that it only got set by NTP syncing.

I supposed this might make sense if I recall that a Linux kernel keeps a separate time relative to the system clock time. Perhaps the system time was set to 1970, and the kernel clock obviously cannot sustain an off set of 40 years

Thanks for your suggestions everyone.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by rjcroy

A ha! Setting the time manually worked! Thanks very much for this tip. I had assumed that I couldn't set the time manually, and that it only got set by NTP syncing.

I supposed this might make sense if I recall that a Linux kernel keeps a separate time relative to the system clock time. Perhaps the system time was set to 1970, and the kernel clock obviously cannot sustain an off set of 40 years

Thanks for your suggestions everyone.

It's possible that Kobo limits the maximum time change on a NTP sync. We used to have issues with a couple of Unix servers that reset to 1970-Jan-01 on an extended power outage. The NTP daemon could only correct the real time clock by plus/minus 4 hours on a sync cycle so a maximum correction of 16 hours per day with our 4 NTP syncs per 24 hours. Oddly, the operating system time and date would display the current time/date after the first sync but on a restart, the hardware clock would revert to a time and date depending on how many time sync cycles had occurred.

Regards,
David

[Uschiekid]

Originally Posted by DNSB

It's possible that Kobo limits the maximum time change on a NTP sync. We used to have issues with a couple of Unix servers that reset to 1970-Jan-01 on an extended power outage. The NTP daemon could only correct the real time clock by plus/minus 4 hours on a sync cycle so a maximum correction of 16 hours per day with our 4 NTP syncs per 24 hours. Oddly, the operating system time and date would display the current time/date after the first sync but on a restart, the hardware clock would revert to a time and date depending on how many time sync cycles had occurred.

Regards,
David

Maybe, but every time I intentionally set my clock back (to extend a library book that I don't finish on time ) and forget to reset it, connecting to the wifi only corrects it while I'm actually connected. Then it reverts to what I set it to.

[Uschiekid]

Originally Posted by rjcroy

A ha! Setting the time manually worked! Thanks very much for this tip. I had assumed that I couldn't set the time manually, and that it only got set by NTP syncing.

I supposed this might make sense if I recall that a Linux kernel keeps a separate time relative to the system clock time. Perhaps the system time was set to 1970, and the kernel clock obviously cannot sustain an off set of 40 years

Thanks for your suggestions everyone.

No problem, glad I could be of help!

[paola]

Originally Posted by Uschiekid

Maybe, but every time I intentionally set my clock back (to extend a library book that I don't finish on time )

ah, would have never suspected such a simple trick would work, thanks for the tip!

[Uschiekid]

Originally Posted by paola

ah, would have never suspected such a simple trick would work, thanks for the tip!

Heh...I was wondering if anyone else had caught on to the trick

My favourite is that it works even if you've tried to open it after it's expired, and it refuses....just go in and change the date and whoops it works again! Occasionally I've had to reboot, but usually it works just like that!

If I know I won't finish it on time, I just move the date back a few days in advance before it's expired.

[paola]

Originally Posted by Uschiekid

Heh...I was wondering if anyone else had caught on to the trick

My favourite is that it works even if you've tried to open it after it's expired, and it refuses....just go in and change the date and whoops it works again! Occasionally I've had to reboot, but usually it works just like that!

If I know I won't finish it on time, I just move the date back a few days in advance before it's expired.

brilliant!