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O/T: PC crash advanced my system clock by 42 years!


John Vine

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My Windows 7 Home Premium PC crashed just now (while I was browsing Google Streetview). I restarted but got all manner of weird messages. For example, Norton Internet Security insisted my subscription had expired (it hadn't), and my regular BT email login page was flagged as "untrustworthy" due to an expired security certificate. Then I noticed the date in the system tray: it read 14/01/2056. *eek* I rewound the year back to 2014 and everything now seems ok. But what on earth was going on? And is simply resetting the date a permanent fix?

 

JV

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A guess, and it can only be a guess without being able to reproduce the crash, is the application or driver wrote over memory where is should have not touched, in this case the system clock. Years ago we often hacked into the "timer tick" interrupt for Terminate Stay Resident DOS coding, if that went wrong the clock would easily be all over the place. Now days I thought a memory access requests has to be made to access memory outside an applications sandbox, so I suspect it was a driver that pulled the machine done, they tend to have more low level access by default.

 

If it's all back, no harm done ;)

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I'm with ChrisC on this, and I don't think it's anything to worry about unless it happens frequently, in which case you'll need to track down the rogue driver, which may not be easy.

 

If the CMOS battery was dead, it would normally start up with the earliest date, which is typically the start of the year the PC was sold. It would also most likely lose its time (and perhaps all other settings) on every boot.

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Thanks for the feedback, chaps. *thumbup* I've just fired up the PC and the clock shows today's date, so all seems to be OK.

 

ETA: Whenever I use Streetview the PC tends to crash after I've clicked on the little advance arrows a few times. Is there a clue there? If so, what can I do about it?

 

JV

 

Edited by - John Vine on 15 Jan 2014 10:59:38

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I think Streetview uses Adobe Flash, so make sure you're on the latest version here. (Remember to untick McAffee security scan).

 

If that doesn't make any difference, it's worth checking your system's memory for any problems.

 

You'll need to know how to write CD from an ISO file, and how to get your PC to boot from a CD. You'll also (obviously) need a writable CD disc (a DVD might work as well). Then get memtest86 from here.

 

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