Y2K Time/date

Delta Dart,

You already have a solution, but I thought you and those who replied might want to read a bit more
about the background of this oproblem. Here is an article I worote about this back in 1999...

A PC has two distinctly different clocks. One is a hardware component, the real time clock (RTC) and the
other is a software component, the operating system clock. The RTC is maintained in the format
century/2-digit-year/month/day and continues to function when the PC is turned off. The OS clock is an
incremental counter which is maintained as the number of days elapsed since 01/04/1980 and ceases to
function when the PC is turned off. The OS clock operates concurrently with, but independent of, the
RTC. At bootup, the operating system reads the RTC via the basic input output system (BIOS) and
initializes the OS clock. When an application calls for it, the operating system converts the OS clock to
four digit year/month/day format. Herein lies the root of the problem. When rollover occurs from year
99, the result will be 00 and the date will likely be displayed as 2000. Unfortunately, most RTCs do not
automatically increment the century portion of the date. The operating system will continue to correctly
maintain the date until the PC is rebooted and the operating system again reads the RTC and initialize the
OS clock. At that time, if the RTC contains the invalid year 1900, the OS clock will likely default to the
earliest valid PC date (01-04-1980, the "birthdate" of DOS's ROM BIOS).

Two types of rollover (transition/retention) tests can be performed to identify PCs which are not year 2000
compliant. As a prerequisite to testing, the PC must first be booted from a system (boot) diskette, and this
diskette must remain in the diskette drive until after the tests have been concluded. In addition, it is
crucial that date and time settings be entered at the DOS prompt. Compliance with these stipulations will
ensure that test results will not be compromised when workstations are attached to a LAN server utilizing
clock synchronization. In addition, time-sensitive and time-driven applications will not be inadvertently
triggered. The first test is a power on (rollover) test. Set the date to December 31, 1999. Set the time to
23:59 (11:59 pm). Wait until more than one minute has elapsed. Check the date. Turn the PC off and
then back on again. Recheck the date. The second test is a power off (rollover) test. Set the date to
December 31, 1999. Set the time to 23:59 (11:59 pm). Turn the PC off. Wait until more than one minute
has elapsed. Turn the PC back on and recheck the date. For both rollover tests, the date should be
January 1, 2000. If a PC fails either of the tests, it is not year 2000 compliant. To ensure the validity of
the tests, it is imperative for the PC being tested to have a battery in good working order. As a note of
reminder, when testing has been concluded, remember to reset the PC to the current date and time and
remove the system (boot) diskette from the diskette drive before rebooting the PC.

Fortunately, there is a workaround for PCs which are not year 2000 compliant. Unfortunately, this
"solution" is not foolproof, and it requires the PC date to be set during or after each boot sequence.
Recently, freeware programs have been made available which, when invoked from within the autoexec.bat at
bootup, will automate the process, effectively eliminating the need for manual intervention. A caveat is
in order here. This "solution" assumes that an application reads clock data from the operating system or BIOS.
Some time-sensitive and time-driven applications read clock data directly from the RTC. These applications
will still fail come the year 2000. Some newer BIOS employ an interim fix which "sanity checks" the RTC
date against a breakpoint year and adjusts the century from 19 to 20 when the year is 00. In effect,
however, this does nothing more than spare the PC user the obligation of setting the date. Unfortunately
this "fix" only executes when the PC is booted. If a PC is operational when rollover occurs, the century
portion of the BIOS date will be invalid (i.e. 19). In addition, applications running on PCs equipped with
such a BIOS, and which read clock data directly from the RTC, will still fail come the year 2000.
Fortunately, a viable solution is at hand. Year 2000 compliant RTC hardware modules have just recently
become available. Through addition of a card, replacement of a motherboard, or replacement of a PC,
year 2000 compliancy is finally possible.

Jim McNamara