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I'm installing ubuntu 12.04. On the time/date settings, I tried to click on Seattle (where I am), but it only registered Vancouver. I modified the ntp config files to use the north american pool, if that matters. On the time/date dialog, I have "Automatically from the internet" checked.

The time value it shows is 7 hours before the current time.

Another minor issue is that the date it shows is apparently using the non-us format (yy-mm-dd). I'm ok with that last issue if that's the default, but the time being 7 hours off is definitely a problem.

What am I missing?

Jorge Castro
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David M. Karr
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3 Answers3

5

What am I missing?

Hello fellow Pacific Daylight Timer! :) Your system clock is defaulting to UTC (aka GMT), which is PDT+7.

Start the terminal with Ctrl-Alt-T, run sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata, and select the appropriate city in North America from the menu. Then exit. That should do it!

ish
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To fix incorrect time on my HP6910P:

  1. I set 'UTC=no' in /etc/default/rcS
  2. Then set my timezone in System settings -> Time & Date

  3. Then shutdown and reset the local time in my BIOS.
    Which had been decreased 5 hrs (I am UTC-5, Ubuntu was trying to do me a favor when I set the timezone, but instead messed up my BIOS local time which is used by Windows).

  4. Then Ubuntu 12.04 displayed the correct time.

mikewhatever
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user218140
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It sounds like your time is wrong 7 hours the other way. When I've had that it has been because the basic clock on my computer, which is supposed to be set to the UTC time and then adjusted by the timezone mechanism, was set to local time and the timezone mechanism was adjusting my time to a later time.

While ntp should be setting the basic clock on your computer to UTC time, it will refuse to adjust it if its not close, and 7 hours is nothing like close.

I'd suggest that you set time clock to utc simply by issuing the ntpdate command. You may also be able to set the time manually if you can get it correct within a second or maybe two.

John S Gruber
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