I have ntpd running from rc.local. I also put ntpdate in there, but it does not work. ntpdate is giving me this error when I try to run it manually as root:

30 Jul 14:41:37 ntpdate[9103]: no servers can be used, exiting

this is my /etc/ntp.conf file:

server 127.127.1.0 # local clock
fudge 127.127.1.0 stratum 3
driftfile /etc/ntp.drift
restrict default notrust nomodify
restrict 127.0.0.0 mask 255.0.0.0
authenticate no
logfile /var/log/ntp.log
server time.nist.gov
restrict 192.43.244.18 nomodify
server navobs1.gatech.edu
restrict 130.207.244.240 nomodify
server ntp-s1.cise.ufl.edu
restrict 128.227.205.3 nomodify

I traced these addresses and they return normally and quickly. I arrived at this conf file by means of several howtos I found, but I have no idea what I'm doing and I probably made a stupid mistake.

Easy :}

what you *really* want to use is ntpd
This is the daemon, and will read the
ntp.conf file. ntpdate doesn't and it's
sole purpose is to get the potentially
big difference between remote and local
time synced before you fire up ntpd.

ntpd by default refuses to sync times
if the difference on invocation is bigger
than 3600 seconds.

So, if you HAVE to run ntpdate,
run it with a server as parameter.

ntpdate navobs1.gatech.edu

Cheers,
Tink

if ntpd is running, why is my clock off by about a minute? (compared to www.time.gov)

Is it running?
Is it running properly?
How reliable are the time-servers you chose?

Cheers,
Tink

time.nist.gov is pretty reliable. yes it's running. I don't know if properly. here's the latest log entries:

30 Jul 05:17:15 ntpd[2237]: server indicates a format error occurred(!!)
30 Jul 05:17:15 ntpd[2237]: server indicates a format error occurred(!!)
30 Jul 05:17:15 ntpd[2237]: server indicates a format error occurred(!!)
30 Jul 05:17:37 ntpd[2075]: ntpd exiting on signal 15
30 Jul 05:17:37 ntpd[2236]: ntpd exiting on signal 15
30 Jul 05:17:37 ntpd[2237]: ntpd exiting on signal 15
30 Jul 05:17:44 ntpd[8720]: signal_no_reset: signal 17 had flags 4000000
30 Jul 05:20:56 ntpd[8719]: kernel time discipline status change 41
30 Jul 05:36:28 ntpd[8719]: time reset 14.980355 s
30 Jul 05:36:28 ntpd[8719]: synchronisation lost
30 Jul 14:54:03 ntpd[8719]: time reset 2.331735 s
30 Jul 14:54:03 ntpd[8719]: synchronisation lost
30 Jul 16:42:55 ntpd[11220]: signal_no_reset: signal 17 had flags 4000000
30 Jul 16:46:24 ntpd[11219]: kernel time discipline status change 41

it's currently 16:59 local time.

hmmm.... the time seems to be correcting itself now. i'll let you know if it becomes a problem again.

Please have a look at:

http://www.edafe.org/slackware/index.html#ntp

Regards,
Edafe