Is it normal to see so many "time reset" entries in the Syslog, especially since every 15-20 minutes it seems to be off by nearly 2 seconds?

 

Would this otherwise point to an "irregular" motherboard RTC?  I'm not having any other problems with the array.  I'm running 4.7, if that matters.

 

Mar 12 13:24:27 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.935324 s

Mar 12 13:25:33 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 204.9.136.253, stratum 2

Mar 12 13:41:34 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.933601 s

Mar 12 13:42:11 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 204.9.136.253, stratum 2

Mar 12 13:58:09 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.917152 s

Mar 12 14:01:41 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 204.9.136.253, stratum 2

Mar 12 14:14:43 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.928331 s

Mar 12 14:15:53 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 204.9.136.253, stratum 2

Mar 12 14:29:47 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.804823 s

Mar 12 14:30:09 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 204.9.136.253, stratum 2

Mar 12 14:45:10 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.807665 s

Mar 12 14:46:44 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 204.9.136.253, stratum 2

Mar 12 15:01:49 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.921322 s

Mar 12 15:02:54 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 204.9.136.253, stratum 2

Mar 12 15:17:42 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.911500 s

Mar 12 15:19:58 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 204.9.136.253, stratum 2

Mar 12 15:32:56 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.817606 s

Mar 12 15:34:06 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 204.9.136.253, stratum 2

Mar 12 15:47:58 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.810125 s

Mar 12 15:50:23 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 204.9.136.253, stratum 2

Mar 12 16:04:19 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.899462 s

Mar 12 16:06:32 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 204.9.136.253, stratum 2

Mar 12 16:19:33 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.802038 s

Mar 12 16:20:40 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 204.9.136.253, stratum 2

Mar 12 16:34:35 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.813973 s

Mar 12 16:34:57 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 204.9.136.253, stratum 2

Mar 12 16:50:57 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.921427 s

Mar 12 16:52:04 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 204.9.136.253, stratum 2

Mar 12 17:06:55 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.913367 s

Mar 12 17:07:26 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 204.9.136.253, stratum 2

Mar 12 17:23:21 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.911000 s

Mar 12 17:25:10 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 204.9.136.253, stratum 2

Mar 12 17:40:10 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.905497 s

Mar 12 17:40:55 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 204.9.136.253, stratum 2

 

Thanks!!

Have you been running the system with NTPD enabled for more than 3 days? more than 1 week? Sometimes it takes longer for systems to calculate the natural drift so it won't need to jump the time as often.

 

If you've been running NTPD for more than 1 week, then check your cmos battery, sometimes that can cause drifts. Also as you indicated, the other item that can cause drifts is a motherboard with aged components.

Thanks BRiT ... the system has been on-line in excess of a month.  I'll check the CMOS battery though, that's a good thought!

Is the time correct on the server? It could be adjusting for being 1 or more hours off by changing the time 2 seconds each check.

 

Did this happen to start when DST kicked in?

Are you running the custom time zone file which accounts for your time zone and DST?

 

Mine oddly enough always does 2 time resets in a row, +2 seconds and then -2 seconds. But, there is a fair bit of time between each sequence.

 

 

lionelhutz:  The time looks correct on the server.  This issue has been prevalent since I started watching the system logs ... here's an excerp from February:

 

Feb 15 13:20:36 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.824718 s

Feb 15 13:21:18 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 72.18.205.157, stratum 3

Feb 15 13:37:16 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.827630 s

Feb 15 13:38:53 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 72.18.205.157, stratum 3

Feb 15 13:52:52 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.619187 s

Feb 15 13:56:33 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 72.18.205.157, stratum 3

Feb 15 14:08:27 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.808663 s

Feb 15 14:08:57 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 72.18.205.157, stratum 3

Feb 15 14:24:58 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.780413 s

Feb 15 14:26:55 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 72.18.205.157, stratum 3

Feb 15 14:40:58 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.819013 s

Feb 15 14:41:24 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 72.18.205.157, stratum 3

Feb 15 14:57:19 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.783335 s

Feb 15 14:58:24 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 72.18.205.157, stratum 3

Feb 15 15:13:19 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.844454 s

Feb 15 15:14:17 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 72.18.205.157, stratum 3

Feb 15 15:29:21 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.672699 s

Feb 15 15:30:12 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 72.18.205.157, stratum 3

Feb 15 15:46:10 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.852655 s

Feb 15 15:48:02 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 72.18.205.157, stratum 3

Feb 15 16:03:11 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.807470 s

Feb 15 16:03:31 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 72.18.205.157, stratum 3

Feb 15 16:19:34 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.805922 s

Feb 15 16:20:31 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 72.18.205.157, stratum 3

Feb 15 16:36:27 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.829539 s

Feb 15 16:38:11 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 72.18.205.157, stratum 3

Feb 15 16:53:22 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.760835 s

Feb 15 16:53:35 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 72.18.205.157, stratum 3

Feb 15 17:09:34 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.943465 s

Feb 15 17:10:20 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 72.18.205.157, stratum 3

Feb 15 17:26:21 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.851357 s

Feb 15 17:26:55 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 72.18.205.157, stratum 3

Feb 15 17:42:56 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.776809 s

Feb 15 17:44:38 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 72.18.205.157, stratum 3

Feb 15 17:59:46 Tower ntpd[4344]: time reset +1.781927 s

Feb 15 18:01:17 Tower ntpd[4344]: synchronized to 72.18.205.157, stratum 3

 

I haven't had a chance to pick up a battery yet.  Since the server seems largely unaffected, it's more of a background concern than a serious worry.

So, to close this case ... I did pick up a new battery, and it didn't help at all.

 

What ended up happening was upgrading from 4.7 to 5.0b14, which is where I am now.

 

Apparently, the 5.0 build either doesn't suffer from this problem, or doesn't report the less-than-two-second time syncs in the SysLog anymore.

 

Anyway, thanks everyone for your help.