Out of sync Clocks

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Offline MisterD

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Out of sync Clocks
« on: November 23, 2010, 12:14:09 PM »
Hi guys,
I'm quite new to this site but as we now have 20 samsung digital displays and Magic Info Pro, I thought it best to join some people that know!

This topic may have been brought up before but I couldn't find anything. My problem is that we have a flash clock on all the screens for staff and students to use as the common time, but recently they have been going out of sync. About 5 out of 20 will be fine, but then the others can vary by up to 10mins fast or slow. Its driving me mad now trying all sorts of things, so any help and idea's would be much appreciated!

Here's a few things I've tried...
-using a different clock
-using a different template
-completely powering the screens off
-republishing to screens
-streaming all videos/downloading all videos
 
Thanks in advance!

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Offline EricL

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Re: Out of sync Clocks
« Reply #1 on: November 23, 2010, 12:53:11 PM »
Hi, because your clocks get their time from the pc clock they can drift off over time if the time is not updated often enough, The default Windows period Windows uses is 7 days but if for some reason the pc cannot connect to the allocated server it will not update-result-clocks out of sync.

So to the solution-change your 'Internet Time' address to a reliable web server-even better if you have a time server available on your network just enter the ip address (double click the clock at the bottom right of the client screen then choose the 'Internet Time' tab).

Now if you require you can perform a registry hack to change the interval the time is corrected to every hour. Only do this if you are comfortable editing the registry!

Navigate to the following in the Registry on each of your screens:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient (SpecialPollInterval)

Right click on 'SpecialPollInterval' in the right hand column and select Modify>Decimal.

The decimal number is in seconds.

Set the value set to 3600 (update every hour).


Remember to backup the Registry beforehand, commit and apply the EWF function on the screen.

Have a look at this post http://www.signagehelp.com/magic/index.php/topic,74.0.html  for more details.

EricL


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Offline MisterD

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Re: Out of sync Clocks
« Reply #2 on: November 24, 2010, 12:06:12 PM »
Hi EricL, Thanks for your response. It came down to a couple of faults in the end. One, the proxy addresses hadn't been inputted (my mistake!) and the windows time server is useless! So we've set our Smoothwall up as a time server and pointed all screens to that and all is well!

I'm still going to try the reg edit that you suggested but maybe in the holidays!

Thanks for your help

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Offline EricL

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Re: Out of sync Clocks
« Reply #3 on: November 24, 2010, 02:39:06 PM »
No problem  ;D

Btw, don't forget to change the LCD panel clock on your screens twice a year (the one that sets the time on/off) if your country uses daylight saving-the LCD panel clock is separate to the pc clock and has not dates associated with it so does not update automatically  ::)

A firmware update from Samsung to include weekend on/off options for this timer would be really useful-then we could set the screens to turn off at weekends when they are not being used (schools/colleges/unis and the like)..

Maybe on the next update??  We live in hope  ;)

EricL