Why does the system show date stamps of "Dec 31 19:00:00" when rebooting?

Asset ID:	1-72-1017715.1
Update Date:	2009-11-09
Keywords:

Solution Type Problem Resolution Sure

Solution 1017715.1 : Why does the system show date stamps of "Dec 31 19:00:00" when rebooting?

Related Items


Sun Blade 2000 Workstation
 Sun Blade 2500 Workstation
 Sun Fire V440 Server
 Sun Fire V480 Server
 Sun Fire 280R Server
 Sun Fire V880z Visualization Server
 Sun Fire V890 Server
 Sun Enterprise 220R Server
 Sun Fire V880 Server
 Sun Enterprise 250 Server
 Sun Blade 1500 Workstation
 Sun Fire V490 Server

Related Categories


GCS>Sun Microsystems>Desktops>Workstations
 GCS>Sun Microsystems>Servers>Entry-Level Servers

PreviouslyPublishedAs
228924

Symptoms
When looking at the /var/adm/messages file after a reboot, the system is logging with dates starting back to Dec 31 19:00:00 and it then goes back to the correct date.

Why is this happening?

Example:

Jun 22 15:54:39 hostname syslogd: going down on signal 15
Jun 22 15:54:57 hostname genunix: [ID 672855 kern.notice] syncing file systems...
Jun 22 15:55:01 hostname genunix: [ID 904073 kern.notice]  done
Dec 31 19:00:05 hostname genunix: [ID 540533 kern.notice] SunOS Release 5.9 Version Generic_117171-02 64-bit
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Dec 31 19:00:05 hostname genunix: [ID 943905 kern.notice] Copyright 1983-2003 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Resolution
You will see this behavior, if you have added the following entry in the
/etc/system file of the server as a workaround of a TOD problem or in some
timing issues:

set tod_broken = 1

Every second Solaris[TM] kernel checks the difference between the hardware TOD
and the Solaris's software clock value in the kernel routine.
If the difference is greater equal to 3 seconds, and "tod_broken" parameter
is not zero, then Solaris does not use the hardware TOD at that time
without any warning/error messages.
Note that if the difference is less than 3 seconds, then Solaris uses
the hardware TOD even if tod_broken is 1.

Therefore, if the hardware TOD was suddenly broken and the system has
"tod_broken=1", then the customer does not recognize the hardware TOD failure
until the next system reboot.

To confirm whether the hardware TOD works fine or not,
you can use "date" OBP command at the OBP "ok" prompt as follows:

Example:
{1} ok date
10/18/2005 10:26:50 GMT

If the hardware TOD does NOT work fine, then the customer should replace
the TOD.

Additional Information
Please note:

The time stamp will vary due to the offset from GMT. In this example there is a 5 hour offset from GMT. So it gives 19:00 as the hour.

Product
Sun Fire V890 Server
Sun Fire V880z Visualization Server
Sun Fire V880 Server
Sun Fire V490 Server
Sun Fire V480 Server
Sun Fire V440 Server
Sun Fire 280R Server
Sun Enterprise 250 Server
Sun Enterprise 220R Server
Sun Blade 2500 Workstation
Sun Blade 2000 Workstation
Sun Blade 1500 Workstation

Internal Comments
Audited/updated 11/09/09 - ian.macdonald@Sun.COM, Entry Level SPARC Content Team

TOD, date, dec31, /etc/system, tod_broken
Previously Published As
81620

Change History
Date: 2005-10-24
User Name: 71396
Action: Approved
Comment: Performed final review of article.

No changes required.

Publishing.
Version: 13
Date: 2005-10-24
User Name: 71396
Action: Accept
Comment:
Version: 0

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