Macbook Air loses time when battery runs flat
Ever since I bought my MacBook Air
nearly a year ago I’ve been plagued with a constant annoying problem, if I let the battery run completely flat, when I connect to a power source I get a warning saying my computers date is set earlier that March 24th 2001.
Your computer’s clock is set to a date before March 24th, 2001. This may cause some applications to behave erratically. Please use the Date & Time preference panel to set the clock manually. For more information, choose Mac Help from the Help menu.
Clicking on the clock in the top right corner of the screen does indeed show that the date and time is set to January 1st 2001. It normally shows midnight but it had been on charge for about 5 hours hence it’s showing 5:13am.
Almost all computers, both desktop and portables, have a small secondary battery on the motherboard (CMOS battery) which is used to keep the computer’s internal clock ticking when disconnected from the mains power supply or a notebook battery runs completely flat. It would appear that my MacBook Air
Other than the annoying warning message it isn’t really too much of an problem for me though, I have had a few problems in the past joining my Windows domain at work as the domain server was reporting the MacBook Air
QUICK FIX:
Simply going into System Preferences
Date & Time
and then unticking and reticking the set date and time automatically check box
updates the internal clock with the correct details (as long as you are connected to a network).
I’m not sure how often OS X polls the NNTP servers for the time but I’m sure if I left it alone with the wrong date/time it would probably self-correct within half an hour or so of being connected to a network. I might run little snitch and see if I can see how often it’s pinging the time.euro.apple.com server.
I have phoned Apple customer support and they have said this is obviously not normal behaviour, the onboard CMOS battery should be retaining the date/time for several weeks if the main battery is complete drained and the CMOS battery should recharge itself whenever the MacBook Air
UPDATE 4th February 2009: I’ve just received my Macbook Air back from repair, along with a new screen/display unit it’s also had a completely brand new main battery. I called and spoke with the technician carrying out the repair and quizzed him about the faulty cmos battery and he informed me that most of the recent Macbook range including the Pro’s and the Air have phased out motherboard/cmos/clock batteries in favour of a capacitor based system in the MBA and small capacitor/onboard rechargeable battery in the others.. He said that even when your laptop battery doesn’t have enough power remaining to keep the disk spinning and screen on, there’s plenty left to power a simple onboard clock. As such the MacBook Air
UPDATE 12th March 2011: I am still plagued by this problem on the same Macbook Air a few years on. The only difference is now the warning says my computers date is set before January 1, 2008 whereas before it warned it was set before March 24, 2001. I’m guessing this is because I have now updated the OS to OS X 10.6.6 Snow Leopard?
Related posts:
I have the same issue. My macbook is only a couple months old (basic 2009 Macbook) and if I ignore the low battery warning and let it run until it totally shuts down it will oftentimes (but not everytime) wipe out not only the clock, but my network password as well. (Not sure why the password gets lost due to the battery…strange).
Hard to believe Apple dropped the use of a 10-year coin cell battery (that costs under $1 retail) and instead went with a capacitor or even a rechargeable battery. Obviously it was a very bad idea. Apple may be the king of innovation, but sometimes they should stick with things that are known to work quite reliably.
January 2nd, 2010 at 11:51 pm
Have the same prob with my 2009 MBPro. Lose wifi-key and time reverts to march 2001. Annoying, coz all my iCal alarms start ringing once reset!
April 29th, 2010 at 6:08 am
Same thing happens to my wife’s mid-2009 Macbook Pro (15″). When the main battery runs flat, the Macbook Pro loses the internal clock and gets reset back to year 2000. Together with the clock issue, it can no longer connected to the WPA2 network, whose password should be saved in Keychain. Therefore, NTP cannot obtain correct time. To fix this problem, I have to go to Keychain, delete the entry for my WPA2 Wi-Fi SSID, then enter the WPA2 password when connecting to the network, and then reboot the Macbook Pro for this password to stick. Otherwise, every time I try to disconnect from the WPA2 Wi-Fi network and then reconnect to it, I am prompted to re-enter the WPA2 password. It also appears that my wife’s iPhoto-to-Facebook integration got screwed up after the Macbook Pro’s battery ran flat. I guess I have to call Apple Care to get this fixed.
June 13th, 2010 at 6:28 am
[...] Apple provide an OS-level fix for this? The OS knows the clock is set incorrectly, and it puts up a dialog when a user logs in. But by this point, the DHCP request is already made and the damage done. Why [...]
September 8th, 2010 at 12:08 am
Just had it happen to my mid 2009 MBPro13″ for no apparent reason. Battery in good condition and fully charged, but when started up warned that date set pre March 2001 etc. and wifi password lost, all as others’ experiences above. Keychain wouldn’t let me in, either, but fortunately I had note of password so was able to get online and it sorted itself out when connection to apple europe time server regained, apparently.
October 26th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Try resetting your SMC (System Management Controller) per Apple’s instructions and see if that resolves your issue.
SMC Reset Instructions:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964?viewlocale=en_US
November 15th, 2010 at 6:00 am
@Dale Cawthon – Thanks for the suggestion but resetting the SMC was one of the first things I tried as it has resolved issues on my Mac Pro before with Bluetooth issues, but in this situation it didn’t help.
Scoopz (Admin)
November 16th, 2010 at 9:39 am
I had the same experience as the rest of you on my MB Air Rev B late 2008 13″. Battery in good condition and nearly fully charged, but when started up warned that date set of 2000 etc. and network settings were lost. I had to re-allow dconfig and mdnsresponder network access.
November 17th, 2010 at 6:00 am
I have a simular problem with my iphone 4. When it runs out of battery it resets the time to Jan 1st 2001… Very annoying, do you think it is the same problem?
March 7th, 2011 at 3:27 am
@Linda – It could be a similar issue with the iPhone 4. My iPhone 4 battery dies quite often but I never lose the date and time on it. Make a Genius Bar appointment at your nearest Apple store and try and run the battery down before you visit to show them the problem. Failing that, try and get a video/photo evidence of the fault. They’ll swap it out for a new one straight away.
Scoopz (Admin)
March 7th, 2011 at 9:12 am
Well I had this problem too, mid-2010 MBP.
Battery run flat in sleep mode, March 2001 on wake, no wi-fi etc.
But, even after connecting again to my wi-fi network, I couldn’t sync with time servers.
It is not doing it, and I have to set it manually and then save it (it used to work though).
I’m running Snow Leopard 10.6.7
In /var/log/system.log I can’t see any network time activity.
Could be some hardware problem?
March 22nd, 2011 at 1:20 pm
I have this same problem with a late-2010 Mac Book (white unibody). What I don’t understand is why can’t I set the computer to just sleep/hibernate once it gets to a critical battery level? Then I would just connect it to a power source and then start back up without losing data, time settings, wifi passwords, etc.
gb
April 19th, 2011 at 2:51 pm
Same problem with late 2010 Macbook Pro. If left to drain completely, it will not hibernate but completely die. Once turned on, it wipes out the clock and the wireless network password.
Steve, is anyone from Apple reading these posts? Obviously there is a problem. Don’t make us vote with our feet.
April 26th, 2011 at 6:02 am
Same problem with MBAir 2010. Battery run’s flat (not connected to battery source over night eg); when I connect to power source, time clock is 2001; no wifi. Have found if reset time first; the wifi auto connects (so no need to insert passcode etc). iCal does alarm. I also have MBPro 2008 and have not had the issue at all. Agree, this is disappointing and more of a hassle than anything.
May 7th, 2011 at 8:57 pm
Same exact problem on my 2010 MBA.
May 20th, 2011 at 1:56 pm
This just happened to me on my Macbook air… Latest model.
May 21st, 2011 at 10:55 pm
Great article! I think it clearly states a common problem with the MBAir (and aparently other apple devices). I have have had the same problem but have yet to find a solution. I think we’re hooped until we buy the MBa2 and find out it has the same problem.
“unticking and reticking the set date and time automatically check box” did not work for me. I have to do it by hand or wait until the mac decides it’s time to check the time.
Thanks!
June 10th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
I believe the answer is a new motherboard, not a new battery
Just sent one in for repair. As there isn’t a time battery, its a problem on the motherboard.
July 26th, 2011 at 3:26 pm
Same thing just happened to my MacBook Air 13″ 2010, battery drained and system turned off.
I plugged it in, and it wouldn’t wake from sleep, so I hit the power button, it booted and displayed that the clock was reset and it forgot my Wifi password too.
Very annoying. Macs forgetting Wifi passwords seem very common across all models.
September 4th, 2011 at 5:04 pm
I have the same issue with my Mid-2009 MacBook Pro (13 inch). The computer is not forgetting the password, but it can’t access the keychain because the date is fucked up. If you manually set the date to today, it should work again. If there’s no CMOS battery, it has to be the main battery or, worse, the mainboard. Crap.
October 15th, 2011 at 8:36 am
Yup. Same problem here with my 2009 MacBook Pro. If the battery dies, the clock is reset and it forgets my wifi. It’s been like that since the day I bought it. Replacing the main battery isn’t going to fix this problem is it? Because if you let the new battery drain, won’t you still have this issue with the clock resetting?
I’m out of AppleCare so a new motherboard is out of the question for me. What a piece of junk this computer is. I’m never buying Apple again. I feel like I got fleeced.
October 28th, 2011 at 6:05 pm
Same Problems as above, Wifi password, date and time.
Purchased MBP Jan 2011
November 3rd, 2011 at 5:06 pm
Same problem here too with a Macbook Pro. Wifi password lost and clock reset :/ It’s out of warranty which is a bummer.
December 3rd, 2011 at 6:08 am
Similar problem with my Macbook Pro. Battery died and even after resetting the date/time, all my e-mails show the date/time when the battery died. My warranty has expired so any ideas will be appreciated.
December 8th, 2011 at 8:22 pm
Why do you all keep complaining of the issue and no one here can clearly explain the fix. We know what the issue is – does any one have a resolution? If anyone here has had the problem resolved let it be known. Do not expound on what you think the issue is or this may be the issue. Simply put who has solved this issue and what did it take. Now, can I hear some responses.
December 26th, 2011 at 12:08 pm
@Charles – Nobody has posted a fix because there is no simple fix. It’s not a software related issue it’s a hardware related issue i.e. your onboard CMOS/clock battery (not actually a battery but a capacitor I believe) has bitten the dust and is no longer able to hold charge for a reasonable amount of time.
As pointed out in the article, I had my MacBook Air sent off for repair and they replaced the board that contains the clock battery in 2009 and that fixed the problem for a few years but now the problem is back. Nothing much I can do other than remember to go into system settings and tell it to check for the network date and time again. Annoying but there’s no way I’m paying for an out of warranty repair for this issue. You could always write a small shell script that runs whenever the computer resumes from sleep that automatically checks the NNTP servers, that may be the easiest solution assuming you are connected to the internet when you resume from sleep.
Scoopz (Admin)
December 26th, 2011 at 5:04 pm
Its not actually a problem. Happens on my Air as well. The workaround I do is as follows-
as soon as the nonsense starts, change the date manually [any date 2011 is ok] and plug in. You must put 3% on the battery. Have a coffeebreak.
restart the computer. the wifi should be ok now.
go back into date/time & select auto.
continue.
January 3rd, 2012 at 12:25 pm
I have the same problem, but the last time the computer died, before setting back the date and time, I opened Evernote and it crashed. I set the time and date correctly thinking this might be the issue, but now, everytime I try to reopen it, it crashes. Haven’t been able to use it since then, uninstalled it, downloaded it again, but still keeps crashing…
Anyone got a clue what this might be?
Thanks,
Carmen
January 12th, 2012 at 11:18 pm
Workaround: I’ve found that if I plug in to ethernet (DHCP enabled) & reboot, time comes back to normal and WiFi is restored since the time server is able to sync over the wired connection.
Bad news is I have 3000 machines to manage and not everyone has access to a patch cable. Actual solutions (not workarounds) would be a lifesaver at this point…yes Apple “Geniuses”, I’m talking to you.
January 18th, 2012 at 1:43 pm
Well, I had a potential solution, but the system won’t let me post the script. Guess it’s some kind of antivirus/anti-XSS system, but it’s pretty poor because:
1. It can’t tell the difference between sample bash code and an attack,
and 2. It returns you to the blog page without any error message or notification, so first of all you lose the comment that you just wrote, and secondly you have no indication why it’s not posted properly.
Ah well, it’s on http://pastebin.com/inE7nv2r if anyone cares.
————code start—————–
#!/bin/bash
me=”$(basename “$(test -L “$0″ && readlink “$0″ || echo “$0″)”)”
now=`date +%s`
filetime=`stat -f %m $me`
if [ "$now" -lt "$filetime" ]; then
echo “System time is too old. Updating system time.”
date -f %s $filetime
else
# Touch the file to update the mtime.
touch $me
fi
————code end—————–
January 21st, 2012 at 1:06 pm
@Manarth – I’m not sure why the code got stripped out of your test comment, I’ll have to look into that. Thanks for taking the time to post you comment though and put the code on pastebin. I’ve copied the code from pastebin into your comment above for people to see.
Scoopz (Admin)
January 22nd, 2012 at 7:50 pm
Did anyone have time to try out the code that Manarth submitted, looks promising. Is there a way of fixing the proxy settings that get wiped as well? Not such a bad problem on a small scale but on a larger scale, horrendous.
February 7th, 2012 at 10:41 am