I am using debian etch on a Dell inspiron 1420 laptop. It is a dual boot system with Windows Vista.

The date and time of the linux OS, when I first logged in, was wrong (about 5.30hrs in advance compared to local time). I corrected it. Then on a reboot the date and time is wrong again. (same 5.30 hrs advance). It happens also when I correct it and Log off and Log on the system.

Then, I noticed that the date and time on Vista has also changes (5.30 hrs advance again).

What should I do to make the system time work properly??

(The linux system has also problems of disply and sound not recognized.)

Thank you

I've not dealt with MS Windows Vista, but in earlier versions, MS Windows always set the hardware clock to local time. It is common in the Linux/Unix world to set the hardware clock to UTC. I suspect this is your problem. (5.3 hours wouldn't happen to be the difference between your local time and UTC, would it?) If you are going to dual boot the machine with MS Windows you will need to make Debian also interpret the hardware clock as local time. In Ubuntu this is controlled in /etc/default/rcS. I am not sure whether it is the same for Debian, but you might look there. I also don't know if this can be set with a GUI.