Hi,

the wonderous world of Microsoft technology never fails to amaze me. It such
a pleasure working with Windows 2003!

Today my trouble is with w32tm service. Most of the clients on my network
seems to synchronize with the time server with much trouble - they all get
warnings but thats probably how its supposed to work I figure?

However, a few machines have some serious issues. Once or twice a day the
user connected to these clietns are thrown out. I have tracked this issue
down and I strongly suspect that it has to do with the kerberos login service
and the windows time server failing to synchronize. In other words, users
comes so far off the server time they are thrown out. (And this is a domain
server so all clients are constantly interacting with the server).

Anyway this is the setup:

Windows 2003 Domain Server with AD working soley as a fileserver and
administrative point for sysadmins.

Clients consist soley of 30 machines with XP Pro SP2.

In the event log of my server I get this error:

"
Error Event 29
The time provider NtpClient is configured to acquire time from one or more
time sources, however none of the sources are currently accessible. No
attempt to contact a source will be made for 480 minutes. NtpClient has no
source of accurate time.
"
Some test commands on the server and their result:
c:\>w32tm /dumpreg gives:
"
Value Name Value Type Value Data
--------------------------------------------------
Type REG_DWORD 32
Start REG_DWORD 2
ErrorControl REG_DWORD 1
ImagePath REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost.exe -k
LocalS
ervice
DisplayName REG_SZ Windows Time
ObjectName REG_SZ NT AUTHORITY\LocalService
Description REG_SZ *cut*
"

C:\>w32tm /tz:
"
Time zone: Current:TIME_ZONE_ID_STANDARD Bias: -60min (UTC=LocalTime+Bias)
[Standard Name:"W. Europe Standard Time" Bias:0min Date:(M:10 D:5 DoW:0)]
[Daylight Name:"W. Europe Daylight Time" Bias:-60min Date:(M:3 D:5 DoW:0)]
"

C:\>net time /querysntp:
"
The current SNTP value is: ntp1.sth.netnod.se,0x1
The command completed successfully.
"

C:\>w32tm /resync /computer:user2 /rediscover
"
Sending resync command to it-support...
The command completed successfully.
"
Like a charm!

C:\>w32tm /monitor /computers:user1,user2
"
user1 [192.168.193.23]:
ICMP: 0ms delay.
NTP: error ERROR_TIMEOUT - no response from server in 1000ms
user2 [192.168.193.29]:
ICMP: 0ms delay.
NTP: error ERROR_TIMEOUT - no response from server in 1000ms
"
Now, this gives time out errors. Client cant seem to communicate with server?

C:\>w32tm /stripchart /computer:user2 /samples:5
"
Tracking user2 [192.168.193.29].
Collecting 5 samples.
The current time is 2007-01-11 10:22:55 (local time).
10:22:55 error: 0x800705B4
10:22:58 error: 0x800705B4
10:23:01 error: 0x800705B4
10:23:04 error: 0x800705B4
10:23:07 error: 0x800705B4
"
Returns 0x800705B4. Something is clearly wrong!


Here is the LOOONG list of registry settings on how I have w32time set up on
the server:
"
Key Name:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\w32time
Class Name: <NO CLASS>
Last Write Time: 2007-01-09 - 15:37
Value 0
Name: Type
Data: 0x20
Value 1
Name: Start
Data: 0x2
Value 2
Name: ErrorControl
Data: 0x1
Value 3
Name: ImagePath
Type: REG_EXPAND_SZ
Data: %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost.exe -k LocalService
Value 4
Name: DisplayName
Data: Windows Time
Value 5
Name: ObjectName
Data: NT AUTHORITY\LocalService
Value 6
Name: Description
Data: Maintains date and time synchronization on all clients
and servers in the network. If this service is stopped, date and time
synchronization will be unavailable. If this service is disabled, any
services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.

Key Name:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\w32time\Config
Class Name: <NO CLASS>
Last Write Time: 2007-01-09 - 16:05
Value 0
Name: LastClockRate
Data: 0x2625a
Value 1
Name: MinClockRate
Data: 0x260d4
Value 2
Name: MaxClockRate
Data: 0x263e0
Value 3
Name: FrequencyCorrectRate
Data: 0x4
Value 4
Name: PollAdjustFactor
Data: 0x5
Value 5
Name: LargePhaseOffset
Data: 0x2faf080
Value 6
Name: SpikeWatchPeriod
Data: 0x384
Value 7
Name: HoldPeriod
Data: 0x5
Value 8
Name: LocalClockDispersion
Data: 0xa
Value 9
Name: EventLogFlags
Data: 0x2
Value 10
Name: PhaseCorrectRate
Data: 0x7
Value 11
Name: MinPollInterval
Data: 0x6
Value 12
Name: MaxPollInterval
Data: 0xa
Value 13
Name: MaxNegPhaseCorrection
Data: 0xe10
Value 14
Name: MaxPosPhaseCorrection
Data: 0xe10
Value 15
Name: UpdateInterval
Data: 0x64
Value 16
Name: AnnounceFlags
Data: 0x5
Value 17
Name: MaxAllowedPhaseOffset
Data: 0x12c

Key Name:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\w32time\Parameters
Class Name: <NO CLASS>
Last Write Time: 2007-01-09 - 16:02
Value 0
Name: ServiceMain
Data: SvchostEntry_W32Time
Value 1
Name: ServiceDll
Type: REG_EXPAND_SZ
Data: C:\WINDOWS\system32\w32time.dll
Value 2
Name: Type
Data: NTP
Value 3
Name: NtpServer
Data: ntp1.sth.netnod.se,0x1

Key Name:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\w32time\Security
Class Name: <NO CLASS>
Last Write Time: 2007-01-09 - 15:36
Value 0
Name: Security
Data:
00000000 01 00 14 80 b8 00 00 00 - c4 00 00 00 14 00 00 00 ....¸...Ä.......
00000010 30 00 00 00 02 00 1c 00 - 01 00 00 00 02 80 14 00 0...............
00000020 ff 01 0f 00 01 01 00 00 - 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 ÿ...............
00000030 02 00 88 00 06 00 00 00 - 00 00 14 00 fd 01 02 00 ............ý...
00000040 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 05 - 12 00 00 00 00 00 18 00 ................
00000050 ff 01 0f 00 01 02 00 00 - 00 00 00 05 20 00 00 00 ÿ........... ...
00000060 20 02 00 00 00 00 14 00 - 8d 01 02 00 01 01 00 00 ...............
00000070 00 00 00 05 04 00 00 00 - 00 00 14 00 8d 01 02 00 ................
00000080 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 05 - 06 00 00 00 00 00 14 00 ................
00000090 00 01 00 00 01 01 00 00 - 00 00 00 05 0b 00 00 00 ................
000000a0 00 00 18 00 ff 01 0f 00 - 01 02 00 00 00 00 00 05 ....ÿ...........
000000b0 20 00 00 00 25 02 00 00 - 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 05 ...%...........
000000c0 12 00 00 00 01 01 00 00 - 00 00 00 05 12 00 00 00 ................

Key Name:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\w32time\TimeProviders
Class Name: <NO CLASS>
Last Write Time: 2007-01-09 - 15:36

Key Name:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\w32time\TimeProviders\NtpClient
Class Name: <NO CLASS>
Last Write Time: 2007-01-09 - 16:03
Value 0
Name: Enabled
Data: 0x1
Value 1
Name: InputProvider
Data: 0x1
Value 2
Name: AllowNonstandardModeCombinations
Data: 0x1
Value 3
Name: CrossSiteSyncFlags
Data: 0x2
Value 4
Name: ResolvePeerBackoffMinutes
Data: 0xf
Value 5
Name: ResolvePeerBackoffMaxTimes
Data: 0x7
Value 6
Name: CompatibilityFlags
Data: 0x80000000
Value 7
Name: EventLogFlags
Data: 0x1
Value 8
Name: LargeSampleSkew
Data: 0x3
Value 9
Name: DllName
Data: C:\WINDOWS\system32\w32time.dll
Value 10
Name: SpecialPollTimeRemaining
Type: REG_MULTI_SZ
Data:
Value 11
Name: SpecialPollInterval
Data: 0x384

Key Name:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\w32time\TimeProviders\NtpServer
Class Name: <NO CLASS>
Last Write Time: 2007-01-09 - 15:36
Value 0
Name: InputProvider
Data: 0
Value 1
Name: AllowNonstandardModeCombinations
Data: 0x1
Value 2
Name: DllName
Data: C:\WINDOWS\system32\w32time.dll
Value 3
Name: Enabled
Data: 0x1

Key Name:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\w32time\Enum
Class Name: <NO CLASS>
Last Write Time: 2007-01-09 - 15:37
Value 0
Name: 0
Data: Root\LEGACY_W32TIME\0000
Value 1
Name: Count
Data: 0x1
Value 2
Name: NextInstance
Data: 0x1
"

Thats about all the data I could dig up I think.

I have set up the time server according to the documents listed on Microsoft
technet so dont bother posting a link to it please. The clients connect to
the domain server, so there cant be a firewall issues - since the clients
themselves doesnt contact the external time source.

I would really like to know what is going on! I would appreciate any ideas
greatly!

Thanks!

P.S. I have read about a hotfix that supposed might fix time synch issues.
Should I implement it? And can anyone send me a like to where I can download
it? I disdain the idea of having to call up Ms techsupport as suggested just
because they are to lazy to put it up for download *groan*.