How do I reset the time on my computer without turning it on?

216

Alright, so today, I did something very stupid: Do an experiment on my computer without backing it up.

So I saw that the calendar in Windows could only go up to 12/31/2999 (or something like that). I was wondering if I set the time to 11:59:59 PM, if it would crash my computer, thinking that if I did I could just restart it from the recovery disc or something. Well, I was right: It did crash it. However, I can't turn my computer on AT ALL. When I try to, it plays a 1-2 second beep, 1 second silence, repeated a total of 3 times. My manufacturer is Dell.

My last backup was from a few months ago, that won't work.

Jon

Posted 2012-09-13T00:01:58.317

Reputation: 8 089

30You can help but laugh at this. – Keltari – 2012-09-13T02:14:53.463

36Setting the time should never break your hardware. This sounds like a serious hardware bug; complain to Dell. – Mechanical snail – 2012-09-13T03:58:04.850

24What a beautiful question. – Michael B – 2012-09-13T06:49:20.257

6Does this mean Dell believes the world will end right at the first minute of the year 3000? – Mechaflash – 2012-09-13T13:59:04.563

23@Mechaflash rather, that you shouldn't use hardware from 2012 in the year 3000 – Default – 2012-09-13T14:37:48.307

1In theory, I'd bet you could have crashed your PC with a lesser date, e.g., year 2039. If anything involved in date-keeping is only using 32-bits, you can only go up to 2038. This could be a 32-bit processor, or 32-bit windows, or a program stuck in 32 bits... – Ray – 2012-09-13T16:01:10.110

4Why don't you try it again for a date between 2038 and 2999, and tell us what happens. – Ray – 2012-09-13T16:01:28.660

2Oh great, you have created a ripple in the space time continuum. – Moab – 2012-09-13T19:33:43.017

What a eloquent but nasty trick to use on someone, muh,ha,ha,ha – Moab – 2012-09-13T19:35:48.117

Can you get into BIOS settings at all? If so, time/date should be available from there. – frozenkoi – 2012-09-13T20:37:22.547

@frozenkoi Well, it works now, but I couldn't do anything with the software, just hardware. – Jon – 2012-09-13T22:06:28.420

2There go my plans for Y3K testing... – zundarz – 2012-09-14T01:49:37.583

4OK, so how many more of you have tried this now? Feels like a good night for field testing. – Mike Fahy – 2012-09-14T05:39:36.663

4Just tried on my C64. It didn't crash. – Avio – 2012-09-14T10:09:04.640

3Be patient. Wait one millennium, and then reboot machine. – Trevor Hickey – 2012-09-16T04:25:55.507

The clock on my iMac only goes up to 2038 - http://xkcd.com/607/ - This is what happens when i set it to that time: Imgur

– gadgetmo – 2012-09-17T18:11:38.127

1@gadgetmo The cert expiring is normal. – Jon – 2014-04-23T16:32:25.913

Answers

151

Take the CMOS battery out for a few seconds. That's the little watch-type battery on the motherboard. (While the machine is unplugged)

And / or use the CMOS jumper on the motherboard, and drain the CMOS that way. Your manual will tell you how. Normally you move the jumper, turn on for a few seconds, and then move the jumper back.

That will reset the time to 1970-ish.

Sirex

Posted 2012-09-13T00:01:58.317

Reputation: 10 321

It still does it. – Jon – 2012-09-13T00:18:39.243

4@chipperyman573 How long did you leave it out? Try 10 minutes or so. – cutrightjm – 2012-09-13T00:19:35.467

Also, I unplugged every cord and left the battery out for about 30 seconds. – Jon – 2012-09-13T00:20:19.087

5It will work. That battery is the only reason your pc knows the time when it's off. Personally, i'd move the jumper though - its easier. The exact position of it moved depending on the motherboard, but it's easy to find if you know what it looks like. Check your motherboard manual. – Sirex – 2012-09-13T00:38:01.893

2drain the power by pressing the power button while cord unplugged, then jumper or removing the battery. Or wait for a while (10mins or more for it to drain). – Logman – 2012-09-13T00:59:06.633

1CMOS can hold its state for a long time, 10 minutes would be a minimum. – Keltari – 2012-09-13T02:13:43.853

37I just waited and took my dog for a walk. Worked, thanks! – Jon – 2012-09-13T04:42:55.513

82@chipperyman573: Now you can tell everyone your dog fixed your computer. – George Duckett – 2012-09-13T07:22:01.717

Is it possible to remove the CMOS battery from laptops? Never tried opening one so I don't really know. If not, this would be a nasty way to completely screw up someones laptop... – Leo – 2012-09-13T16:54:48.340

@Leo - Depends. A lot of cheaper motherboards have the battery (stupidly) soldered in to save the .05 cents on the battery clip. Also laptops are not really designed for upgrading and expect a lot of turnover because of wear-and-tear. – James K – 2012-09-13T21:00:07.747

@Sirex - "Personally, i'd move the jumper though - its easier." - And safer too. First, some of those battery clips are not designed properly, and can break when tampered with. You're just less likely to damage your computer using the jumper. Unless you don't know which jumper it is. Just randomly moving jumpers is a bad way to find the right one. Can burn up CPU's, memory, even the MB it'self. – James K – 2012-09-13T21:12:45.063

2It really seems flaky that a bad time value would keep you from at least getting to BIOS setup. – Daniel R Hicks – 2012-09-14T01:18:28.520

@DanH If only that were the flakiest thing about the BIOS... – Isaac Rabinovitch – 2012-09-18T21:01:28.037

Check the beep codes carefully. Here are the common Dell codes If the diagnostic is installed you should also be able to run the diagnostic. Press F12 when you see the Dell splash screen.

Beep Codes     Possible Causes
1 - 2          No video card detected
1 - 2 - 2 - 3  BIOS ROM checksum error
1 - 3 - 1 - 1  DRAM refresh error
1 - 3 - 1 - 3  8742 Keyboard Controller error
1 - 3 - 3 - 1  Memory defective or not present
1 - 3 - 4 - 1  RAM failure on line xxx
1 - 3 - 4 - 3  RAM failure on data bits xxx
1 - 4 - 1 - 1  RAM failure on data bits xxx

Dave M

Posted 2012-09-13T00:01:58.317

Reputation: 12 811

10Yeah, if he can get into BIOS he should be able to reset the clock from there. – Daniel R Hicks – 2012-09-13T02:05:30.783

7@DanH - You don't need to get into BIOS to get the beep codes. Just turn it on and listen. Beep codes are for catastrophic hardware errors that don't even allow you to get into BIOS, let alone boot. That's why their beep codes and not just error codes, just in case the motherboard can't even talk to the basic (text-only) video routines. – James K – 2012-09-13T20:54:23.520

Don't you mean if he sees the splash screen? – James K – 2012-09-13T21:01:26.543

@JamesK Which I don't. – Jon – 2012-09-13T22:06:59.030

@chipperyman573 If you are not seeing the Dell spash screen the problem is unlikely to be the time. Add the beep codes and this points to a hardware issue. Have you confirmed the exact beep code? – Dave M – 2012-09-14T12:24:48.563