System Time incorrect

General
1

I have seen multiple topics about this, and I am experiencing the same problem. I just got a N150 mini PC and installed StartOS v0.4.0 for the first time. Installation went smooth and everything is ok. I setup Bitcoin and it’s syncing nicely. However, on exploring the system I notice that the system time is off.

I tried multiple things:

  • Set the timezone manually in the terminal, but after a reboot it’s unset
  • Opened the firewall to allow the traffic to external ntp servers (although other devices have the correct time)
  • Disabled VPN
  • Tested the NTP time request with: sudo journalctl -u systemd-timesyncd -n 50 --no-pager
    Output is:

May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: leap : 0
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: version : 4
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: mode : 4
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: stratum : 2
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: precision : 0.000002 sec (-19)
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: root distance: 0.000130 sec
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: reference : n/a
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: origin : 1778938313.711
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: receive : 1778938313.717
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: transmit : 1778938313.717
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: dest : 1778938313.725
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: offset : -0.001 sec
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: delay : +0.014 sec
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: packet count : 2
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: jitter : 0.000
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: poll interval: 128
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: adjust (slew): -0.001 sec
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: status : 8193 sync
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: time now : 1778938313.725
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: constant : 3
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: offset : -0.001 sec
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: freq offset : +1949539 (+29 ppm)
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: interval/delta/delay/jitter/drift 128s/-0.001s/0.014s/0.000s/+29ppm
May 16 13:31:53 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: Sent message type=signal sender=n/a destination=n/a path=/org/freedesktop/timesync1 interface=org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties member=PropertiesChanged cookie=4 reply_cookie=0 signature=sa{sv}as error-name=n/a error-message=n/a
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: Sent NTP request to 178.239.19.61:123 (0.pool.ntp.org).
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: NTP response:
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: leap : 0
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: version : 4
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: mode : 4
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: stratum : 2
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: precision : 0.000002 sec (-19)
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: root distance: 0.000130 sec
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: reference : n/a
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: origin : 1778938441.961
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: receive : 1778938441.964
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: transmit : 1778938441.964
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: dest : 1778938441.976
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: offset : -0.004 sec
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: delay : +0.015 sec
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: packet count : 3
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: jitter : 0.001
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: poll interval: 256
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: adjust (slew): -0.004 sec
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: status : 8193 sync
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: time now : 1778938441.975
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: constant : 4
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: offset : -0.004 sec
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: freq offset : +1457870 (+22 ppm)
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: interval/delta/delay/jitter/drift 256s/-0.004s/0.015s/0.001s/+22ppm
May 16 13:34:01 start9 systemd-timesyncd[6192]: Sent message type=signal sender=n/a destination=n/a path=/org/freedesktop/timesync1 interface=org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties member=PropertiesChanged cookie=5 reply_cookie=0 signature=sa{sv}as error-name=n/a error-message=n/a

So, as far as I can tell it’s all working fine. But the system still thinks I am in the wrong timezone.

How can I set the system to use the correct timezone?

2

What makes you think the system is in the wrong timezone? If you’re currently located on Earth, the time will be on UTC. If you’re off-world, I don’t think we have a standard for that yet. :slightly_smiling_face:

3

Let’s say that the system time is not according to my timezone. :slight_smile:

4

There’s nothing actually wrong with your server. Every computer in the world keeps time in UTC, a single shared reference clock. Your local time is really just UTC with an offset added on for your region. Most software does that math for you so the time on screen matches the clock on your wall, but underneath it’s all still UTC. System Time under Metrics shows actual real time (UTC). Some log would be more helpful, and maybe show something like 2026-05-17T22:40:02-05:00

Every way, again, your server is not broken, you’re fixing something that hasn’t broke.

5

The system time under metrics is not correct. It says it’s 9:00 PM GMT+0 where it should be 11:00PM GMT+2. That’s why I was looking at the time in the settings.

6

Right now it’s 9:16 PM GMT+0

If it shows that, then it’s correct.

7

So, how come the logs are 11:16pm gmt+2 like my clock on the wall? The logs times are correct. The dashboard is incorrect.

8

There’s nothing actually wrong with your server. Every computer in the world keeps time in UTC, a single shared reference clock. Your local time is really just UTC with an offset added on for your region. Most software does that math for you so the time on screen matches the clock on your wall, but underneath it’s all still UTC. System Time under Metrics shows actual real time (UTC). Some log would be more helpful, and maybe show something like 2026-05-17T22:40:02-05:00

11

Here is a log:

2026-05-18T16:31:16+02:00 2026-05-18T14:31:16Z UpdateTip: new best=00000000000000000001635eb1d7ea5ca17f6aa822ad2ddc95914c1da75c3b71 height=949951 version=0x20000000 log2_work=96.213031

So the time (2026-05-18T16:31:16+02:00) is correct here in the log. This is however not the time that I see on the metrics page.

12

System Time under Metrics shows actual real time (UTC). Some logs can be more helpful to a human, and maybe show something like +2hrs after the real (UTC) time.

13

Yeah, I guess. It was a little confusing.

14

It’s a valid request to have the metrics show both though. Probably a good idea.

1 Like
15

Would make it a little less confusing. :slight_smile: But not a bit problem.

16

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