Hi,
Got a strange problem. Have a Small Business Server 2003 with SP2 and fully patched with all critical updates setup, with about 15 XP Pro SP2 computers on its domain.
The problem I'm facing is that most of the office computers are synchronizing their time with the server perfectly, but about 5 of them go BACK one hour. Have scoured the web for a solution for hours but this one has me stumped.
I tried setting the affected system's time clocks manually, but they revert back to an hour earlier than the server as soon as a reboot is done or a Net Time command is used. In example.. Assuming the date and time is set to 06/10/2008 10:00:25am on one of the affected systems, manually synced with the server to exactly the same time.
If I open a DOS prompt and run the command "Net Time \\192.168.1.100 /SET" I get the reply that;
- - - 8< - -
Current time at \\192.168.1.100 is 06/10/2008 10:00:25 AM
The current local clock is 06/10/2008 10:00:24 AM
Do you want to set the local computer's time to match the
time at \\192.168.1.100? (Y/N) [Y]:
- - - 8< - -
If I answer Y to the above prompt, I get "The command completed successfully" and the local system time goes back 1 hour to 06/10/2008 09:00:25 AM
WTF ??
I setup the domain and all the workstations in this office identically myself. All the XP Pro workstations in the office and on the domain have SP2 on them and so far as I know, all have had the XP time patch applied to them, which was once available as an optional update from Windows Update.
I have also checked the Event Viewer on the affected systems to ensure they are syncing with the correct source. A sample of a W32TIME report from the System section in Event Viewer states;
- - - 8< - -
The time service is now synchronizing the system time with the time source V2003SBS.varcoes.local (ntp.dl192.168.1.112:123->
192.168.1.
100:123).
For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
- - - 8< - -
The above IP addresses are perfectly correct. The affected system was 192.168.1.112 and the server is as already stated, 192.168.1.100
This has me stumped. I have read somewhere about a patch for Windows 2003 Server (not SBS) which needs to be applied, but if the case was the server needing a patch, wouldn't the entire office be affected rather than just 5 of the workstations? This makes me think that the problem must be on the workstations themselves and not with the server.
Can anyone help with this please? The issue is rather urgent as the 1 hour time difference causes havoc with a couple of software packages that we run.
Looking forward to your expert opinions and advice.
Andy
(AKA - KZX10)
Start Free Trial
