How do digital clocks work?

Your motherboard has a component on it called the CMOS battery. It keeps track of time, as well as stores some BIOS settings. This is why if you notice your computer starting to lose track of time, it may be because the CMOS battery is getting older and starting to fail.

One last point, your computer may actively sync its time with a known reliable Internet time, but this would only occur when your operating system is running and when you are connected to the internet. Windows XP has this feature.

And here’s a nice little breakdown explaining which clock components in your PC and OS are reliable and which are accurate.

Standalone PC components are notoriously inaccurate, hence the modern-day (ahem, Win XP and later) reliance on network-based time correction mechanisms.

There’s a little gnome inside who keeps count. He wants to be fed, by the way. Some bread crumbs and coke poured into the fan would be much appreciated.

So THAT’S who’s responsible for crashing my computer in the middle of fantastic Team Fortress 2 battles! It all makes sense now, especially considering that I usually snack while playing. Thanks for the insight, Jayne. Do they have names? A union? Demands beyond snacks? Inquiring minds must know!

You snacked while playing?! Wow, you’re lucky he just shut down the computer, and didn’t join the other team. He would have decimated you- they have wicked trigger fingers, you know.