Date & Time Set Before 2001

Question

I am in the process of streamlining my Powerbook G4 laptop.
I have had some problems and have overcome those issues save one.
Whenever I turn on the computer the date and time option tells me that they are set before 2001.
December 31, 1969 to be exact.
Any ideas as to how I can get this back and on time if you will?
Thanks

Answer 1

Hi, a. When the date and time revert to that default setting, it's an indication that your Powerbook's internal backup battery is dead. That can only happen if the backup battery is defective or the Powerbook is deprived of all power — AC and main battery — for longer than about ten minutes.
Remove the main battery and leave the Powerbook connected to AC power for five or six hours to recharge the backup battery. Put the main battery back in, start the machine, and disconnect the AC adapter. Set the date and time correctly, and use the computer until the main battery is drained and the machine goes to sleep. At this stage, the main battery should still have enough charge left in it to maintain the date and time for at least 24 hours, without the backup battery coming into play for that purpose. Leave the AC adapter disconnnected and let the Powerbook sleep overnight, or for at least 8 hours. If after that time the Powerbook is not sleeping, but has shut down entirely, your main battery needs to be replaced: it isn't reliable and isn't holding much of a charge at all. In that case, your backup battery will also have been drained, and your date and time will have been reset to the default date in 1969.
If your main battery gives you less than about half an hour of working time on a full charge, or if it gives you as much as an hour, but doesn't provide accurate or dependable readouts of its current condition in the menu bar, then you've probably been aware for a while that you need to replace it. If that's the case, think of your date and time resetting as a further gentle nudge to get cracking and replace the battery.
In the unlikely but possible circumstance that your main battery is completely dead or you don't have one at all, then your backup battery will drain and your date & time will reset in about ten minutes every time the AC adapter is disconnected, or there's a power outage, or the AC adapter shuts down due to noise in your AC line. In that case, get yourself a main battery and your date & time will be reliably maintained.