Hi,

I asked this question to linode support. The support told me my host clock was correct and asked me to ask this question here.

I am using ubuntu 12.04. It's kinda fresh without many modifications. The only system level modification I can think of is creating a nonroot user. (install web servers?)

After I issue "sudo reboot" in terminal and the system is up, the date is incorrect. Then after about 3 minutes, the date gets fixed to the correct one. (should be fixed by ntpd). I have ntp installed.

The following are two continuous calls to date command:

~$ date
Thu Jan 10 14:20:39 CST 2013
~$ date
Thu Jan 10 18:07:42 CST 2013

This problem causes my web server quits with timeout error.

Thanks.

Try 'date -u' to eliminate any possible weirdness involving timezones; that'll give you UTC.

If you can reproduce the problem in finnix (Rescue -> Boot into rescue mode), then the host's clock is wrong, period. It happens. Request a migration to another host.

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Hi hoopycat,

I tried 'date -u' after reboot. It gave me the same incorrect result. The following are two continuous calls for 'date -u':

~$ date -u
Thu Jan 10 10:11:38 UTC 2013
~$ date -u
Thu Jan 10 13:58:31 UTC 2013

And then I did boot to rescue mode (Finnix). I find out the date in Finnix is wrong too:

# date -u
Thu Jan 10 10:14:07 UTC 2013

Does it mean the host clock is wrong? The official support confirmed the host clock is correct twice in the ticket I opened.

Thanks and Regards.

I asked the support about the host clock again and another support confirmed that my host colck was correct. I really don't know what to do next.

If you boot into Finnix and get the wrong time every time, and it's wrong in the same direction each time, there is absolutely no way the host clock is correct.

I argued with Linode staff on IRC a month or so back about a similar sort of thing, so keep fighting. Yes, NTP will eventually fix it, but a lot of stuff happens in those first three minutes...

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Hi Hoopycat,

Linode support migrated my linode to another host. After the migration, the problem is gone.

Thank you very much for your help.