[Bug 43745] Re: Ubuntu corrupts real time clock on some dell laptops

[Klaus Reimer]

Iulian, do you have the latest Dell firmware for your laptop installed?
You say you use the latest Ubuntu version so this may be an indicator
that this error was not solved in Ubuntu or the Linux kernel but it was
solved in the Dell firmware. I'm using a Dell Latitude D820 and with the
latest firmware I did not run into this problem in the last months. I
even did a extreme-rebooting-test as I did to confirm the
reproducability of the bug and it worked fine. So maybe there is a newer
firmware available for the Inspiron, too, and it will fix the bug.

To solve your current problem you may try to boot windows once (it was
reported that this fixes the clock). If you don't have windows installed
then maybe a Windows boot CD (Installation disks? Live CD?) may work,
too. Or try to remove the cmos battery (also called coin battery) of the
laptop for some minutes to reset the BIOS configuration. This solved the
problem for me even in the latest state (when the laptop stopped working
at all)

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Ubuntu corrupts real time clock on some dell laptops
https://launchpad.net/bugs/43745