Why does my computer clock fall behind?

Question

Why is it that the clock on my computer and VCR loses minutes as compared to the clock on my cable box?

Answer 1

Your computer probably uses an internal oscillator powered by a CMOS battery - the battery might be dying. I'm not sure why your VCR would be running slow, but it makes since the cable box is most likely to be correct, since it probably gets updated through your cable connection periodically by your provider.

Answer 2

in your pc i think a weak battery shoud be replace. about your vcr i really dont know. try to simultaneous all your equipment with a onventional clock or watch maybe your cable box is faster.

Answer 3

  I would expect that under current conditions, none of them would lose minutes    A PC running under XP has an option on the clock to check the internet and update the clock.  Older PC's had a clock that was counted with an interrupt and this interrrupt could be blocked by certain programs thus missing counts and getting behind but it was my impression that most modern PC's had a chip driven clock.

  NIST has a little program you can download for free to go get the superaccurate NIST time periodically.

  Depending on your cable company, the clock should be updated by the cable signal, so should be most accurate.

  The VCR would be unconnected to anything so would be most likely to slip, but most VCR's are notorious for losing and flashing the 12:00 on loss of power instead of slipping.