Weird interaction between W7 and Bios date & time settings.

I'll post here as well, hopefully more people will see this!

Please refer to this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ceived-my-m17x-r4-problem-date-time-bios.html

I'll try to sum up the problem (sorry for my poor english xD).

Note: 2 motherboards and 3 CMOS batteries have been replaced, with batteries from 3 different brands...that's not the case.

If I setup the Bios to the current D&T and keep restarting the laptop over and over again, the setting will always be fine in the Bios.

As soon as I get to Windows 7 the system starts to have problems. W7 tends to set its date at 6 days prior to the Bios' settings. This happens 99% of time (will explain the exception later on). If I leave the date as it is (6 days in the past) and restart the laptop, Bios' settings will still be fine and W7 will restart again at 6 days prior to Bios' settings.

What happens next is that if I update the time setting in W7 to the correct one, after the next restart the Bios' settings will ALWAYS reset to 1st january 2011 (every other setting in the bios will be maintaned as set by me, only d&t reset). Starting windows7 now will show 1st january as well, creating heaps of authentication problems. It happens no matter how I update the settings, whether manually or through internet time.

The ONLY case in which Bios and W7 work fine together is if I set the Bios' date in the future. I've tried many different dates, the laptop is currently setup as 1st July 2012, Bios and W7 are perfectly in sync.

A few additional informations that I highlighted in the other thread:

I've tried to reinstall windows several times, as a new install over the old OS and after formattinc everything. Everytime I get to W7 desktop for the very first time Bios and W7 settings match perfectly. If I restart the laptop Bios will maintain its settings, W7 will reset to six days in the past. It happens whether I immediately restart the laptop or if I do it after installind some drivers (chipset, for example). Again, I think I've tried any combination of installation/reboot orders, always ending in the same result.

As for W7 installation itself, when I get to the D&T prompt for the first time during the installation procedure I can change time and timezone, but not the date which is always stuck at....6 days in the past.

I have absolutely no idea.

I've tried playing with the scheduled sync options, with services and other settings but the problem persists.

My (vague) idea is that there must be some weird interaction between W7 and "something", but I have no clue about what it could be as the problem shows up even after a completely fresh installation on a formatted drive sitting on a new motherboard.

Any idea will be greatly appreciated. Dell's support is simply replacing components with no improvement, on monday I'll have the last appointment during which they'll replace Cpu, graph card and maybe HD, after that I'll need to ask for a refund as Im going to study abroad in July and won't have time to wait for a replacement.

The laptop works perfectly, no problems at all as long as i don't set the correct time in W7.

 

bump +_+ any idea?

 

Extra detail:

Problem persist even on safe mode, so I'd think it's an hardware problem.
Which is weird, motherboard and cmos battery have already been replaced.

 

Tried installing w7 on a different hd that worked perfectly on another computer, no improvement -.-

If it really is a hardware problem it must be somehow connected to either cpu.

 

daily bump!

 

I would try running a Live CD of Ubuntu, It will load into ram and not zap your Win 7 install.
see : Try Ubuntu before you install it from here Desktop | Ubuntu

OR have you tried using a different install media for 7? There is a thread in this sub forum that explains where to D/L free

 

I guess i could try installing from a different source, i'm currently using the w7 disk the came included with the laptop.
i've tried to use the search button but i get this: Could not find phrase 'invalid_search_query'.

-_-

Any chance you could find that thread for me? I could either make a dvd or flash install.

edit: nm, i'm downloading the 64bit hp iso from mydigitallife and have already installed windows 7 usb/dvd program.
Once i finish downloading everything i'll give it one more try and keep my fingers crossed.

 

windows setup could not configure windows to run on this computer's hardware

-.-

have to reinstall from the dvd, lol

 

I remember I had the similar problem. I flashed my BIOS to newer version. Everything was fine since then.

 

Tried that as well :[

 

Actually dunno. Try different OS, Win8 or Linux, and use it for a few days. See where it leads you.

 

I might give a try to w8!

I'm currently reinstalling w7 form the dvd (from usb flash it won't work, even it if works fine on a different laptop), and during setup I am forced to chose 23rd of june as date, cannot change it. Sigh, it's always like that -.-

 

I think it has to be hardware.

I have an Acer 5742g so I took its hd, formatted it and installed on the Alienware. I installed W7 from the dvd and I had the same date error. Moved the hd back to the 5742g and the error is gone, it correctly displays 30th june 2012.

So there's not much left to try now, considering I've already replaced motherboard, cmos battery and hd.
Is there any chance CPU / Ram / 7970m may have anything to do with it?

 

Last appointment today.

Considering we had already replaced motherboard and cmos battery we tried to replace the Cpu as well.

With a new Cpu the problem changed, W7 would show the right date (yes!) but wrong time. If we modified W7 time settings everything in the bios would reset, so back to square 1.

We replaced the motherboard again (so 3rd motherboard on 2nd cpu)....works perfectly now.

It's basically a mystery but i won't complain as long as it works.

One day I'll narrate this story to my grandchildren, and when they'll ask me:"So grandfather what happened to your laptop?", I'll reply:"There are things men should never know" and fade in the sunset.

 

It does sound like a bios issue more than windows.

 

Click on the clock in the taskbar and set the appropiate time zone. Check notify me when clock changes. Turn off (disable) clock sync from time servers. Set first day of the week as Sunday, this could be why there's an offset of days in your date. You've probably been in there before and you changed something. Once you made all this settings go into BIOS and set your date and time.

 

It was a hardware problem on the motherboard, after replacing it everything was fine.