Dell Inspiron N5110: System time does not advance when unit is off.

Something is wrong with the on-board RTC - Real Time Clock.

You need to identify that chip or module and first see if its crystal is damaged.

If the device is a Dallas TimeKeeper then you can simply plug in another one, if soldered into the board then you have to decide how much it is worth to fix...

John :-#)#

Thanks John,

It is worth it to me to know how much trouble it is and then decide if it's worth fixing. I'll let you know what I find.

I found a free program Neutron Time Set that I run from startup that sets the time for me.

KenW

I had a laptop with a bad cmos battery. Had weird symptoms related to timekeeping, but the cmos settings were retained. The voltage was low, so I changed the rechargeable battery. That fixed it.

Hi Mike,

The CR2032 battery is not rechargeable and it is not measuring below 3.0 volts. There were several other people reporting this Dell frozen time problem and replacing the battery did not fix the issue.

Thanks for your reply.

A DS1287 is probably thicker than most laptops :-)

Schematic available here

The RTC is part of the 'Cougar Point Platform Controller Hub' [2]

Clearing CMOS is apparently done by a jumper (G2101) RTCRST# (page 21 of the schematic [1]. Power off then momentary short (p.163 of [2])

The main cause, as explained, is the battery (CR2032). You need to change it. It causes also BSOD.

The OP did mention that he tested the CMOS battery and it read above 3.0V DC.

Now it could be the battery holder that is defective. You need to check that Vbb is getting to the timekeeper - and someone kindly posted a ink to the schematics so the OP can check that out now more easily.

John :-#)#

p/4122751

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the workaround idea. I may have to resort to using it!

Hi Adrian,

That schematic and datasheet will be very helpful. Thanks!

Hi John,

I was testing the battery voltage where the battery holder's terminals are soldered to the board.

Now that I have the schematic, it should be fairly simple (famous last words, right?) to track down the fault.

Thanks for your reply.

Nothing better than fixing stuff IMHO.

We generate enough garbage that keeping something going that is still useful is worth the effort, puls the brain cells need exercise!

John ;-#)#

Quite :)

The reason why I pipped in, was that I was researching a real time clock / NVRAM fix to a 27-year old Sun X terminal [1], and came across a description of a 'kick start' procedure to initialise the installation a new clock module (a 28pin DIL chip like the popular DALLAS type). However, I just needed a new battery fitted to my old one, and set about mine with a hacksaw like this ...

It doesn't really have a purpose (unit lacks USB, CPU runs at 50MHz) but the retro experience has reignited some brain cells - so it's kind of therapeutic. In twenty-thirty years time, I'll probably have the same fun with old Core2Duo driven things like what I am using here.

For a healthy mind, I heartily recommend this time travelling retro hobby. Sure beats sudoku and eating lots of fish ...

I cosign on salvaging electronics and exercising the brain cells.

By the way, how is it the computer keeps perfect time once the time is set and the power remains on? Shouldn't the time shown in the BIOS setup screen begin to advance too once it's powered on?

BIOS settings are kept by the battery, not only time and date. IF time slips or BSOD, it means the battery is dead or holder. If not, Flash EEPROM is dying. Anyway, if your PC can work, try HW32INFO.

The computer does not BSOD since I used a restore point to correct that issue. The battery is not dead. I measured it mounted in the holder at the holder's terminals. The PC works fine except for the clock. Is there some particular piece of information you want me to find with HW32info?

Thanks for your reply.

Good. And, the usual self-test can/should exercise the chip that keeps the timer running. It won't, necessarily, test the time accuracy, and a typical such system uses a quartz crystal with a couple of small capacitors. The crystal could be fractured, or (worse) one of the capacitors could be shorted. Tiny capacitors, only gonna be able to find 'em because they're next to the rock.

Another poster has suggested a circuit diagram

and the crystal would be X2101 and its associated components, R2101, C2101, C2102, depicted on 'sheet 21 of 108' (see the label on lower left page corners) and connected to pins A20 and C20 of the 'Cougar Point' big integrated circuit.