Microsoft KB Archive/255838

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Windows 2000 Loses Date and Time on Every Boot

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Q255838

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

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SYMPTOMS
After you install Windows 2000 and reboot, you may receive a message stating that the system's date and time are invalid. When this occurs, the date may be set for January 1, 1601, or another invalid date, and the clock may be counting the time from 12:00 A.M.

If you reset the date and time correctly and boot to another operating system (such as Microsoft Windows NT, Microsoft Windows 95, or Microsoft Windows 98), the date and time remain accurate after rebooting. However, the problem occurs whenever you boot into Windows 2000.

CAUSE
This behavior can occur if the computer's BIOS is not 100 percent Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) compliant. The BIOS may contain invalid entries in the HalpFixedAcpiDescTable table. Windows 2000 is the only operating system that relies on the ACPI BIOS entries to be valid.

RESOLUTION
Contact the computer's manufacturer to inquire about the availability of a flash BIOS update that resolves this issue. If available, apply the update according to the manufacturer's instructions.

WORKAROUND
To work around this behavior, reinstall Windows 2000 without ACPI support by using one of the following methods:


 * During the first phase of Setup, at the "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration" screen, press the F7 key. This forces Setup to install a non-ACPI hardware abstraction layer (HAL).
 * During the first phase of Setup, at the "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration" screen, press the F5 key. This allows you to manually select a non-ACPI HAL (See the table below to select the appropriate HAL.)

The following table lists the non-ACPI HALs.

Additional query words: 1/1/1601 century

Keywords : kbenv kbhw KBW2KHOME

Issue type : kbprb

Technology : kbwin2000Search kbwin2000ProSearch kbwin2000Pro