I have a dual boot PC with Win 7 and XP It has suddenly starting to return to default time and date after it is shut off, it will load but will not allow me to work on-line. I can work around this by going into bios setup and correcting the time and date, then things work fine. How can I fix this?
Custom built with Gigabite motherboard, Nvidia graphics and AMD processor. It's all about 9-10 years old.

sarahandus,

Assuming your problem is not the result of malware, it reads like you need a new battery for your motherboard. A worn out battery would mean that clock time and other BIOS settings would be lost when power is turned off.

I don't see why you can't go on-line, unless there is a setting in the BIOS you need to access hardware required to use a modem.

Robert

Like Robert said, you probably need a new CMOS battery.
Usually desktop computers use a CR2032 battery.
9-10 years old would be about time for a battery change.

***CR2032 batteries at Amazon***

It's on the motherboard. Sometimes a tiny screwdriver is helpful to pry it out, other times you can get it out with your fingernail.
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000239.htm

Late to the party, but I'm out of town right now. Yup, CMOS battery.

I had an online issue when my battery was failing. It was something to do with Website Security Certificates. Not sure what year they started being issued, but most websites wouldn't work and a message flashed up about the website I was trying reach didn't have a Certificate.

No further problems after replacing CMOS battery.

I have changed the battery. Maybe the new one was defective, I'll give it another try. That would be a lot easier than a new motherboard or processor.
Thanks for the help!

It's not that your computer didn't have a certificate.
It's that the certificate it had didn't match the date range on your computer clock, so your computer thought the certificate was invalid and said no certificate.

Websites that are https have certificates.
A lot more websites are using certificates now than they did in the past. Certificates are used for encrypting web traffic, which is useful when you are buying something and sending your credit card number, or entering a username and password that you don't want everyone to know.

Hi Jenny, thank you for the info on certificates, you learn something new every day!!

I know at least half of what I know I learned on this forum!

That goes for me, too!

Also Windows update will not work if the date is too far off. I also remember solving a problem for a friend of mine back in 1999 when he has trying to install windows me and it would crash when installing to a formatted hard drive. What I found was that the date in the bios was set to 2014 instead of 1999.

Thanks every one for your suggestions. Unfortunately the whole business turned into a complete disaster and I ended up taking the PC to a repair shop. It seems the original problem was a dying power supply, according to the shop.
But after he got it running on Win 7 it didn't recognize the second hard drive, so it's back in the shop. I now have a laptop with Win 10. I hate it, not the laptop but OS. Hate it!

I have a new problem; how can I make Steam let me work off line or at least not connect to them when ever the computer is started? I think I saw an explanation some where, but can't find it again.

Thanks for all the great help.

Steam has a webpage about offline mode here
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-AGCB-2555

HowToGeek has one here
https://www.howtogeek.com/117424/how-to-make-steams-offline-mode-work/

This page tells how to disable steam from running at startup
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=5344-QWBN-3580

It sounds like your old computer had more than one problem.

We always hope for easy solutions, but sometimes it doesn't work that way. One of the best - super cheap - investments I ever made was a power supply tester.

Thanks for those links Jenny100. I bought Goetia when it was real cheap in spite of my dislike for Steam, now I wish I hadn't.

Draclvr - It would probably help if I could keep from tinkering,