My computer at work slowly but surely loses time.
I lives in a state of lag because of some of the software it runs is a little taxing on its little 450Mhz CPU. Could this actually cause the Clock to lose time?
Depaending on how hard I am loading down the machine it can lose 4-5 minutes a day. Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon?
My home computer (which is also a 450 mhz PC) is starting to do the same thing. I believe this almost always means that the battery on the motherboard is getting weak and will need to be replaced before too long.
There was a thread on this a while back. I seem to remember that the poster also said that the clock comes up with the correct time after a reboot. I do not think this is a battery problem, since the battery just holds the time when the computer power is off, and other values are also preserved by battery power.
Try a reboot and see how the time comes up. Also try a thread search on something like “computer clock”.
If that is the case, then CookingWithGas may be right. It could be something unrelated to the CMOS battery. This article from Microsoft support gives a little information about about potential problems:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q189706
“There was a thread on this a while back.”
About three dozen times now I think since I have been here. Depends on the type of computer & operating system & saying its a '450Mhz CPU" rules out an Atari computer I guess 
If the DOS time is right, its a software thing usually.