System time problems on Debian (wait for clock tick timed out)

Question

I just installed a new server and changed the time zone by using the command:

dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

the system clock is correct now but /sbin/hwclock --systohc doesn't work:

select() to /dev/rtc to wait for clock tick timed out

date command, for example, date -s 14:30 works fine.

Any ideas how to fix it in an easy way?

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered May 21 '12 at 12:12

1

It's a known bug with older versions of Debian. You can either upgrade or pass --directisa to every invocation of hwclock.

answered May 21 '12 at 12:12

David Schwartz

Older versions? I have Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.5 (squeeze) I think it's not old. Can you please show an example how to use --directisa? Thanks. – user1406271 May 21 '12 at 12:48
Try 'man hwclock' for how to use --directisa. – EightBitTony May 21 '12 at 12:58
Do you perhaps have really old BIOS then? – David Schwartz May 21 '12 at 13:07
BIOS Information Vendor: FUJITSU // American Megatrends Inc.Version: V4.6.5.1 R1.5.0 for D3090-A1x Release Date: 02/03/2012. I think that before I changed the time zone hwclock worked fine. But I am not 100% sure. – user1406271 May 21 '12 at 13:26

1 Answers1