Topic: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

I use my Chumby as an alarm clock.  For about a month, it worked fine.  Then, it started losing time.  I tried telling it to get the time from the internet, and then not to get the time from the internet.  Over the course of the day, it loses 20 minutes or more.  Occasionally, it will be fine for a day or two, but usually it loses time.  Our network had WPA with TKIP algorithm. We just switched to WPA2 with TKIP and AES.  I don't know if that fixed it because the Chumby hasn't had time to slow down. 

I really like using it as an alarm clock, but can't anymore because I can't wake up 20 minutes late every morning, and resetting the clock is annoying.  How can I fix this?  Is it a problem with the Chumby or is it my network security?

Re: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

My Chumby clock is fine, so I assume it is a settings thing, not a chumby thing. I'm sure someone can explain or help better than I, but in the meantime, perhaps the info in the thread link below will help you. I didn't understand half of it, but perhaps you will. I just remembered the issue from past reading and perhaps it is something that will be useful to you. If not, someone else will be on to help if you say that didn't help.

http://forum.chumby.com/viewtopic.php?id=2231

Re: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

Yes, there is an issue we're tracking down where WPA2 with AES appears to disable interrupts for an extended period, so the chumby misses the occasional clock tick, resulting the clock "slowing down".

Re: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

Ah, that's interesting.  I use WPA2/AES, and have noticed the same thing, though it isn't typically a problem since it queries the timeserver every three hours (IIRC) and seems to be able to catch up.  The other night, though, when my Internet connection crapped out at some point, it lost close to a half hour.  Since I can't seem to sleep through an entire night these days (one of the few 'advantages' to being a geezer, I guess), it wasn't a problem for me (in fact, it let me know I had to go reboot the router).

Re: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

This seems to be getting worse.  I forced a time update this morning at about 5:30 AM, and when I checked about 13 hours later, it had lost 17 minutes.  That seems like a lot of time to lose - even without taking into account that it should have connected to the time server three or four times during that period.  I don't recall it being this much of a problem in the past.

Re: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

The time loss should be roughly proportional to the amount of network traffic you've generated with the chumby.

If, for instance, you stream music, I believe you'll see a bigger loss than if you're just showing clocks.

Re: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

I checked it out last night and, sure enough, streaming audio really made it lose time in a hurry.  I decided to create a cron job to have it sync the time once an hour on the fifteens.  That helped to mitigate the time loss.

8 (edited by tupholme 2009-02-23 15:14:14)

Re: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

I've been having exactly the same problem since changing my DSL router; my typical time loss is about 10-15 minutes. However, my router is apparently using WPA-PSK and TKIP. My router diagnostics show the following:

WPAEncryptionModes  TKIPEncryption
WPAAuthenticationMode  PSKAuthentication
IEEE11iEncryptionModes  AESEncryption
IEEE11iAuthenticationMode  PSKAuthentication

I don't need to use the alarm much at the moment but it would be good to get a fix for this before I do!

Re: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

Odd. I had this problem when I used a WPA/TKIP network, and it seemed to go away with the WPA2/AES/TKIP network.

Re: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

I received my Chumby in mid-December as a birthday present.  My main use is as an Alarm clock and it was working fine (ie keeping time) until just a few days ago (late Feb).  My Chumby is a 2009 version and it is in Night mode 95% of the time.  Now it seems to lose 10-12 minutes and then stay off by that amount.  I haven't had any changes to my Chumby or the network.  I have always used WPA security.

I did get the clock to resync once by doing the following:
1) Unchecked the "sync using the internet" box
2) Reset the time in manual mode.
3) Clock ran overnight and lost about 10 minutes.
4) I rechecked the "Sync with internet" box and the time corrected.
5) Now the clock is off again even though it should be syncing with the internet.

I did read another thread about time issues in mid 2008 and it seemed to suggest a factory reset was needed.  Didn't see anthing about needing to do that here.  What should I do next? Were any software updates sent out in February?

Re: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

Correction.

My chumby is using WPA2 PSK-TKIP authenication.  Like I stated earlier though it has always been set this way and only recently did my Chumby start losing time.

Thanks.

Re: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

clnairnick wrote:

I received my Chumby in mid-December as a birthday present.  My main use is as an Alarm clock and it was working fine (ie keeping time) until just a few days ago (late Feb).  My Chumby is a 2009 version and it is in Night mode 95% of the time.  Now it seems to lose 10-12 minutes and then stay off by that amount.  I haven't had any changes to my Chumby or the network.  I have always used WPA security.

I did get the clock to resync once by doing the following:
1) Unchecked the "sync using the internet" box
2) Reset the time in manual mode.
3) Clock ran overnight and lost about 10 minutes.
4) I rechecked the "Sync with internet" box and the time corrected.
5) Now the clock is off again even though it should be syncing with the internet.

I did read another thread about time issues in mid 2008 and it seemed to suggest a factory reset was needed.  Didn't see anthing about needing to do that here.  What should I do next? Were any software updates sent out in February?

I have just about the identical situation.  I lose about a minute an hour even when in night mode.  I am using WPA2, but how would the encryption matter when you have the internet time sync turned off? 

Chumbyites, please help us out with this.  This device becomes a whole lot less useful when it fails to keep time.

Re: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

ferretgeek wrote:

I have just about the identical situation.  I lose about a minute an hour even when in night mode.  I am using WPA2, but how would the encryption matter when you have the internet time sync turned off?

as duane previously posted, the encryption method seems to disable interrupts which affects the clock's ability to keep time.

having said that, i'm curious as to why you have internet time sync turned *off*?  does your chumby lose time even when
time sync is enabled?

/mdkail

Re: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

mdkail wrote:
ferretgeek wrote:

I have just about the identical situation.  I lose about a minute an hour even when in night mode.  I am using WPA2, but how would the encryption matter when you have the internet time sync turned off?

as duane previously posted, the encryption method seems to disable interrupts which affects the clock's ability to keep time.

having said that, i'm curious as to why you have internet time sync turned *off*?  does your chumby lose time even when
time sync is enabled?

/mdkail

I only turned it off as a troubleshooting step to try to correct the problem, but as it loses time at the same rate regardless of the setting, it's kind of a moot point right now.

Re: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

Well, it appears that switching from WPA2 to to WPA fixed this problem, but since WPA is not as secure as WPA2, i'd really like to see this fixed.  Since I've been using WPA2 for months with no problem, and only started experiencing the time loss recently,  I'd imagine there has to be something in the Chumby code that has changed and caused the problem.  Please keep working on it, guys.

Re: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

Did I get a perfect Chumby or what? I've got Pandora! I've got Iheartradio! I've got correct time! I am not making light of YOUR situations...really...I am just reminding some that some are still fine and I know NOTHING about how it all works, but I bet it is connections and strength of signal...my...don't I sound all technical! Really, I don't know know why, but I am still fine on all counts since November 2007, always on, 24/7.

Re: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

We finally have a solution to this problem which will appear in the next firmware release.  We'll let you know when it's scheduled.

Re: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

Duane wrote:

We finally have a solution to this problem which will appear in the next firmware release.  We'll let you know when it's scheduled.

That's excellent news!  Oh, and I do agree that having Pandora on my Chumby is just about the coolest thing ever.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my Chumby, but when it doesn't keep the time, well, it's a lot less useful, that's all.

Re: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

If you'd like to try the fix for this problem, please see this thread.

Re: Slow Chumby - consistently loses time

Duane wrote:

If you'd like to try the fix for this problem, please see this thread.

Heading over there to try it out!