Windows 7 clock jumps back about every hour + internet disconnects

windows 7

I have the weirdest problem, for the last few days every hour or so (not exact) the clock jumps about back in jumps of 15 to 60 minutes and after some time the internet disconnects.
i can reconnect the internet by unplugging and plugging back the network cable.

This is the second time this problem happens to me, the first time was when I installed VirtualBox. whaen I removed it the problem was gone.
This time I have no idea what triggered it, the only thing I installed about the time the problem started was iTunes update (10.5.1)
I tried removing it but the problem remained. (also tried to remove other programs i installed day or 2 before and it also didn't help) also, this is not a VM and currently I don't have any VM software.

any ideas..?

UPDATE

since the solution is in the comments i'll write it here – apparently the windows time service got broken, this is the fix: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc738995(WS.10).aspx (run "fix it" from IE browser only)

UPDATE 2

The fix didn't work, about 2 hours passed and first the internet disconnected and then the clock jumped back…

This probably means that the problem is not only in the clock

UPDATE 3

A true solution was found, works fine for a day now! The problem was the small battery on the motherboard has run out!, it controls the internal clock. I replaced it with a new one and it's fine since.

Best Answer

Possible causes are:

  • misconfigured ntp-settings
  • wrong time-zone
  • misconfigured time on virtualization-host (e.g.: machine running as vm on VMware ESX)

You could also check your system-log (keystroke: WINDOWS + R, type eventvwr, open Windows-Logs -> System). Normally the change of system-time should be logged there. Do you have log-entries about changing or updating the system-time?

Update 2011\11\19 21:56:
Maybe the problem is any third-party-software or another misconfigured service. Have you already checked your system for malware? You could clean up your installed software, run clean-up-tools like CCleaner and check your autostart (run: msconfig, then disable any not-needed service and application on service- and startup-register).

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