REsolved?: [ale] Clock problems with two SuSE setups

[johnmills at speakeasy.net (John Mills)]

ALErs -

In response to my clock-challenged laptops:

On Mon, 4 Jun 2007, Jeff Lightner wrote:

> It could be a clock/CMOS battery issue if both systems were
> approximately the same age.  You're "about the same time" suggests they
> didn't both start having issues at exactly the same time.   
> 
> I gather these are laptops?  If so it could be the main battery.  Heck
> it could even be the AC you're plugging into when they're up.   Do you
> have a UPS for that?  Have you tried them on different circuits?  Have
> you compared what they do running on AC then being rebooted as opposed
> to running on internal battery then being rebooted?

I may have stumbled to a conclusion here.

I finally isolated the symptom on one laptop to loss of time when the unit 
was stopped and restarted without the AC adapter connected, but kept time 
properly through the same cycle with the adapter. My first reaction was, 
"Yup, I have to replace a clock battery," but I couldn't find one. By 
coincidence I noticed the time setting was retained over a 24+ shutdown 
_after_ the unit had charged its running battery overnight. My working 
hypothesis (supported by some hazy wording in the manual): there is a 
clock battery, it is recharged by the adapter, and it discharges 
independently of the main battery.

We'll see how that concept holds up.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 - Mills