Hardware Clock set back on power loss

[Merhaba]

Hi,
I got a FitPC2i from the first batch (which includes that SATA bug) and happened to stumble upon a weird bug: My FitPC crashed somehow (I use it as a mailserver and stuff, running 24/7), and after restarting it, it failed to boot up into standard init level (Ubuntu Linux 10.04). When investigating I found the hardware clock was set back to a 2010 date, and the system considered the filesystem to be corrupt because timestamps were from 2012, of course.
OK, I ordered a filecheck and corrected the date, but after deconnecting the device from electricity for transport reasons, the machine failed to boot up again - same problem, after checking filesystems the maching was set back into 2010 again

According to manual there should be a rechargeable battery on the mainboard which holds the date for at least 100 days. But the device had sufficient current till the day before the crash.
Installing an NTP server or a cron job won't help as file system check is performed before starting these daemons.

Any hints how to solve this problem anyone?

[gabrielh]

It's seems like the battery is exhausted. If the Fit-PC2 is under the warranty period, I suggest you to RMA it.

The work around of that problem can be disabling the filesystem check during the bootup, and rescheduling it after the NTP server will synchronize the system clock .

[Merhaba]

The work around of that problem can be disabling the filesystem check during the bootup, and rescheduling it after the NTP server will synchronize the system clock .

Hi gabrielh,
thx for your reply.
How do I disable the fs check? and which are the fsck parameters to use later?
Thanks

[gabrielh]

you should open /etc/fstab and look for something like this

Code: Select all

proc            /proc           proc    nodev,noexec,nosuid 0       0
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=79dbb4f4-3dc4-4e4b-afef-a33588a394ed /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=62b66d89-cb09-4546-9e15-2b262933d8f0 none            swap    sw              0       0

Change the last "1" to "0" to disable the filesystem check

[Merhaba]

Oops, forgot about this thread. Nevertheless, thanks for replaying.

Just being curious: Warranty is over for sure - is it difficult to replace the battery on my own? I'm not too bad at soldering

[gabrielh]

I think it is a little bit tricky question It depends on your skills

[Merhaba]

Well, that's obvious.
I've got a good set of screwdrivers, a binocular loupe and the wit to be curious.

Is is hard to disassemble the device? Is the battery located in the very last and hardest to reach corner? Can you provide me an exploded view so I can see where to go to?