Date and time not updated on Gnome panel - Ubuntu 10.04
 

Hello all

I recently installed Ubuntu 10.04 and am very happy with it. However I have this problem with the Gnome panel which does not keep the date and time up to date. I can see that the system has the right date and time but it seems to get stuck on the Gnome panel. I have researched, ntp, ntpd, ntpupdate, tried all the tricks. Not sure what to do next.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

If you run the command date in the terminal, does it show the correct date and time?
Does your computer's BIOS show the correct date and time when you boot up the computer?
I am not sure what the problem is here; but here are some helpful references that may help:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuTime
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/set-dat...-protocol-ntp/

Hi Tom

Thanks for your response. Yes, the date command shows the correct date and time, and when I reboot it picks up the correct date and time, then it usually gets stuck at that//

I'll check the links that you gave me.

Thanks

Try right-clicking on the time clock in the upper right corner of the Gnome panel, then choose "preferences" and then the "locations" tab. Then click "add" and add your location. See if the time works correctly with your location selected for the correct time.
It seems odd that the date command would show the correct time, but the Gnome panel time clock does not.
If that does not work, then try using the other options in the first link I gave in my last post.

Hi Tom

Thanks for your assistance. As per your second comments, I tried all of that with no result. I re-installed 10.04 and it seemed to work for a while and then it went back to the same behavior. I seem to have run across a few reports (via Google) of people saying the same thing. This computer ran 9.10 for about a year with no problems. A laptop that I inherited from my wife is running 10.04 without such a problem. However I upgraded the laptop
from 9.10 to 10.04, whereas on this computer - a desktop, i did a full install of 10.04. It worked fine for a day or so, but then I had some problems with Samba, and spent the whole day tinkering. The date/time problem re-appeared, but I can see no connection between ntp and Samba.

Thanks for your help, and I'll just plugging away at it. I'll keep you in the loop

Wow, it seems to be working. I made the changes with the clock in the Gnome panel as you suggested, nothing happened for a while then for some strange reason I decided to change the theme, and the clock started moving.
Main thing is, its working now.

Thanks again, Tom ;)

Can confirm this, was having the exact same problem on a 10.04 that had been UG'd from 9.10. Clock was frozen even though "date" in a console would show the correct time. Changing the Theme does have the clock working as expected again. Problem with the default theme??, dunno, anyway, a change of theme has me working again.

Someone should log this as a bug (I have nfi about howto go about that)

Thanks

Glad you got it fixed!
So what theme were you using before; and what theme did you switch to?
Were you using the new default "Ubuntu Light" theme:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Brand#New%20GtkThemes

(Gee whiz, purple desktop wallpaper with orange-brown directories in Nautilus?!?...
Are the Ubuntu theme developers color blind, or what???!!!)

I find the name "Light" to be a bit ironic since Ubuntu is definitely not a light (i.e., light on computer resources) distro imo.
I always switch to the "ClearLooks" theme straight away after installing Ubuntu, so I have not really used the default Light theme.

Bug is posted below (have to do it twice since the website doesn't like new posters linking on their first post)

I'll also note that it did this to me with a custom made theme, (using Ambiance themes on top of the Clearlooks frame so buttons were on the right side).

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...el/+bug/574815

Once again, sorry for the double post.

Thanks for logging that :)

Have found my above solution (change theme) was only temp, the clock is back to freezing again. As another temp workaround, when I changed the panel bar to a diff location, side, top, etc, the clock begins working again ..

Cheers

I also have the same clock freezing problem with Ubuntu 10.04. Every time while booting it shows the correct time, then struck at that point. In the command prompt the time is correct. It worked properly for some time initially (a day or two). This needs to be fixed. Very annoying.

I'll also note in my case the wireless icon disappears when the clock stops working and clicking on the power button brings up the wireless dialog, and clicking on the user's name brings up the power controls. It's as if everything shifted to the left. Changing the location restores everything (as above), for a while.