[Update on September 12, 2007: I just found out that a possible reason that the system time is incorrect is because I install the 32-bit Debian on a 64-bit machine. After I reinstall the 64-bit amd64 Debian Etch, the system time is fine.]
After network installing Debian Etch on my Desktop computer at school (dual boot with Windows XP), I found that the system time is incorrect. With the same minimal installation CD, I also install it on my laptop. However, the system time on my laptop is correct. After spending some time on the Internet, I found how to fix this problem as follows.
1) Check if the UTC is set to no in the ‘/etc/default/rcS’ file. If it is not, change it to no.
2) If the problem is not because of the first UTC above, we have to edit the ‘/etc/init.d/hwclock.sh’ file.
>su
>vi /etc/init.d/hwclock.sh
Look for a line containing, HWCLOCKPARS=
Add the following text after the equal sign, “–directisa –localtime”
So, the complete text should be,
HWCLOCKPARS=”–directisa –localtime”
Notice that double quotes must be put on the line.
Then, we have to restart the hwclock.sh by,
>/etc/init.d/hwclock.sh restart
If the time is still wrong, we have to change the time manually by right clicking on the time icon and changing it. Then, we have to restart the hwclock.sh again. To check if the change takes effect, try to restart the computer. Time should be displayed correctly after restarting the computer.
Filed under: Linux
Hi! The second point worked for me. Thanks alot! But watch out with the code for /etc/init.d/hwclock.sh: the two minus-signs became a dash on this webpage and the quote-chars are typographical. So if anyone just uses copy&paste it won’t work.