Internet Time

[BLUE SKY THINKER]

XP Pro: "Date & Time Properties" > 'Internet Time' (tab) .....

.........................................................try ing to 'Update Now'

time.windows.com... 'An error occurred.......................................because: The peer's stratum is less than the host's stratum' (whatever that means!)


time.nist.gov...'An error occurred while Windows was synchronizing with time.nist.gov.'

(connected to Internet, obviously & 'Started/Automatic' in "Services") Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[Evo]

Try How To Synchronize the Time with the Windows Time Service in Windows XP?

[BLUE SKY THINKER]

Evo.....

No luck with that, but thanks. Perhaps the secret lies in that bizarre phrase.....

'An error occurred.......................................because: The peer's stratum is less than the host's stratum'

Anyone know what it means?

Thanks, again.

[Evo]

Anyone know what it means?

I googled it ... and no

Some places suggest that it's a server problem - where are you trying, and can you try somewhere else?

[SoftTop]

BST,

have you tried to update manually and was it successful?

Have you checked that your year is already set to 2004?

Have you checked in control panel that your date/time format is "ok"?

Have you checked in control panel that your international settings are correct?

Are you, or have you ever, run any dodgy software for calendars other than the Julian one (Moslem, Jewish, Chinese etc.)?

These are just off the top of the head, and if I get a chance to dig deeper, I'll ask some more inane questions later


ST

[ORAC]

It is how the NTP (Network Time Protocol) service works. There are different layers (Strata) of servers, with the national time service ones at the top, secondary ones below them etc. The service is a peer-to-peer service. A PC/server looks for a time server which must be either in a higher stratum or, at worst, a peer. It cannot be at a lower stratum.

It would seem, from your error message, that the server you are trying to link to is reporting that it is in a lower stratum, so the service is, correctly, denying the connection.

The fault would seem, therefore, to either that your PC has an inflated idea of itīs level or the service is pointing at the incorrect server.

See if this helps to sort it out.

[DistantRumble]

google for a local NTP server ... for example, here in Dublin, Trinity College has one.

[Mac the Knife]

Curious! I've also had this in XP recently and I've never seen it before.

My Linux (freesco) router synchs with a timeserver periodically and I can synch the PC with it so didn't investigate further.

Odd.

[BLUE SKY THINKER]

Mac the Knife.....

"Curious" indeed. .....I only posted this after endless attempts over the last couple of days, to no avail. .....This morning, with no changes to the laptop settings it was working intermittently. .....Tonight, no problem (!)

That said, not a waste of time; quite an interesting subject once you get into it on the web (believe it or not!). Useful replies (and link/ORAC) thanks.

NB: Since resolving this, in a fit of enthusiasm I thought it would be nice to synchronize via Blighty's premier time source (i.e., Rugby's spot in cyberspace) But not yet apparently.

[spork]

I suspect this is an XP update issue (SP2?). On previous occasions I've found this one seems to work alright.

[BLUE SKY THINKER]

spork.....

Strange, just been wondering that myself; installed SP2 last week (!).

How about you Mac the Knife?

[Mac the Knife]

Yup, stuck in SP2 about 3 weeks ago. I don't usually update the time manually through the Windows Date&Time applet, but leave it to the system or use the Freesco time client to synch it to the router (which checks the time regularly) so this was the first time I'd tried it.

Got that bizarre "stratum" message (thanks for elucidating the stata ORAC).

So I guess it's an SP2 issue.

Haveta say that's the only issue (or non-issue) that I've noticed with SP2 which installed without a hiccough (from the MS CD) and doesn't seem to have broken anything in the large variety of apps that I use.

[BLUE SKY THINKER]

Mac the Knife.....

Interesting; obviously something in common here.

Likewise, no other SP2 snags (via MS disc) thankfully, despite some of the horror stories.

PS:...............

Having said all that, reading around on the subject this evening, there seems to be an arguement for disabling in \'Services\' anyway, as synchronization only takes place automatically every seven days. .....If you are not connected at that point (particularly on laptop) you will probably miss it, but in the meantime resources (albeit presumably limited) are being used running it.

Further - on a spookier note - I see there are people on the Web paranoid about having their clock linked to a Microsoft server (time.windows.com) by default (!) .....I think I\'ll leave it there.....