Mac Reset Date to 1/1/2000

[WickedRabbit]

Woke up this morning with a bunch of warning messages saying my Mac's date was set to 2000 and that some stuff may have stopped working. Thought that was kind of weird. Anything I should be worried about?

 

[pdjudd]

Weird. Only time I have seen that happen is when the battery on the main board dies (it stores the date and time) - but that's on the PC side of things.

 

[old-wiz]

If your Mac is new, I'd head for the genius bar. All personal computers have a tiny battery inside to keep the date running. My old Dell laptop (from 1999) has this issue, but I rarely even use the computer anymore and I just set the date when I boot it. I can't even boot it on it's battery -that's dead too.

It does happen, but if it's happening on a desktop like an iMac, you have a problem.

 

[Halcyon]

It does happen, but if it's happening on a desktop like an iMac, you have a problem.

I can guarantee you that all Mac's, be it laptops or desktops, have a battery that supplies power when you turn off your computer so that certain info can be retained.

On an iMac the battery is located on the lower right hand panel towards the front.

This is basic stuff.

 

[old-wiz]

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that desktops do not have a battery. I remember the days back in the early 90s where we could replace the battery in a desktop motherboard. Every computer needs a battery to keep track of time (and probably other details) when power is off. By having a problem I meant something's wrong inside the iMac.

 

[Halcyon]

If the battery is dead (and it can happen even in new machines) then that's the problem...I don't know how hard it is to change the battery on an iMac, it used to be quite simply on older Mac's.

If the battery is not dead I suggest going through the entire old routine of zapping the PRAM, etc. If that doesn't help, then I would try re-installing the system, or better yet going back in time with Time Machine...or any other back-up you must have.

If non of the above work, then take your mac for a ride and visit the Genius Bar.

Keep us posted.