What's new

Solved My SP3 Has Come from the year 2050 and needs our help! :(

codysnowboard

New Member
So I have the Surface Pro 3 i7 256gb version. It is apparently from the year 2050.

I've had it for about four days.

At first, everything was working fine. I was in love with this thing!

But then I installed Comodo anti-virus software and an app called Readiy. They weren't my first apps or anything, but one of them caused an issue where Windows kept freezing, giving me the BSOD, and then the screen would go black but when I touched the Home button it would still vibrate. I ended up having to do the "power button and volume button" method of shutting down in order to get it to start up again. It would freeze within a minute or two of turning on no matter what I did, but I ended up getting both Comodo and Readiy uninstalled, and the computer stopped freezing.

However, I tried to install some updates, as Windows apparently hadn't installed them automatically like I thought it was doing, and everything has gone kaput since then.

After doing a number of updates, I noticed that in Google Chrome it was telling me I couldn't use HTTPS because the date was wrong. It has the time, day, and month correct, but it says the year is 2050.

I tried to change it manually, but it won't give me any choices of years prior to 2020!

Unfortunately, with the date being wrong, I am having trouble with almost everything, specifically Windows Update no longer works.

I tried to do a refresh of the system, which did nothing but uninstall a few programs I had, (like Steam).

So I bit the bullet and did a complete reset.

Upon resetting and losing all of my installed apps, (no big deal but a minor annoyance), the system is apparently completely new but it still thinks it's the year 2050, and I cannot sign into a Microsoft account and can only use a local account, I cannot get Windows Update to work, and a lot of apps are having trouble because of this messed up year issue.

Anyone have any ideas on how to fix this? The control panel no longer seems to have the option to change the time server, so I'm kind of at a loss. :|
 

GreyFox7

Super Moderator
Staff member
Go to the Desktop,
Open an Admin Command Prompt [Hold Start Button for a couple seconds a menu should popup. Select Command Prompt (Admin) ]
Type: Date and press enter
Enter: 11-11-14
 
OP
C

codysnowboard

New Member
Go to the Desktop,
Open an Admin Command Prompt [Hold Start Button for a couple seconds a menu should popup. Select Command Prompt (Admin) ]
Type: Date and press enter
Enter: 11-11-14

Thank you so much for your timely reply! :) I feel a fool that it was something so simple, but that did the trick. :)

Out of curiosity, it concerns me a bit that even after resetting that issue was still an issue. Apparently a reset didn't reset everything. Should I be concerned that whatever the problem was may still have some remnants left behind somewhere else? Is there anyway to reset everything?

Anyway, thanks again. :)
 

GreyFox7

Super Moderator
Staff member
I can't speak to the specific method the Surface uses for time but a traditional PC had a chip used for the RTC (Real Time Clock) powered by a battery which would last years but to reset that and other BIOS settings you would remove the battery and reinsert it. That clearly is not possible with the Surface. I haven't done a Reset but Id Assume BIOS settings get returned to factory defaults. As for the clock, when you removed the battery in other systems it would come up with some typically far in the past date that you had to set anyway so there's nothing lost with this.

I would check to see if the internet time function is working... I know one of the NIST sites was messed up a while back and I have seen sporadic issues getting to Windows Time with some ISPs who were being very persnickety or pedantic with the NTP protocol. I think that's where the trouble lies.

Bottom line, you should be good to go.
 

GreyFox7

Super Moderator
Staff member
Thank you so much for your timely reply! :) I feel a fool that it was something so simple, but that did the trick. :)

Out of curiosity, it concerns me a bit that even after resetting that issue was still an issue. Apparently a reset didn't reset everything. Should I be concerned that whatever the problem was may still have some remnants left behind somewhere else? Is there anyway to reset everything?

Anyway, thanks again. :)
BTW most problems are easily solved once you know what to do. There's a lot to know and nobody knows it all so don't feel bad at all. There's a lot of stuff on here I don't know either, but somebody else does.
 

bluegrass

Well-Known Member
Just curious GreyFox, where did you come across that information about setting the time at the command prompt?
 

olimjj

Active Member
As an alternate you can go to the Control panel. You will find the Date and Time settings icon there.

I believe the command prompt date setting was from the DOS days.
 

GreyFox7

Super Moderator
Staff member
As an alternate you can go to the Control panel. You will find the Date and Time settings icon there.

I believe the command prompt date setting was from the DOS days.
Based on this statement:
"tried to change it manually, but it won't give me any choices of years prior to 2020!"

I assumed the worst and went for the lowest level option easily accessible.
There's probably a BIOS screen for changing it but that would have been harder. :)
 

GreyFox7

Super Moderator
Staff member
I guess I could have said 1976 because I've been using the same command since then but technically that was a different system and the Operating System was called a Master Control Program. :)
Huston, we have lift off... well that was the 1960's. Date probably goes back to the 1950's but I haven't found proof of first use yet. :) Maybe there will be a Prize for whoever uncovers it.
 

olimjj

Active Member
Based on this statement:
"tried to change it manually, but it won't give me any choices of years prior to 2020!"

I assumed the worst and went for the lowest level option easily accessible.
There's probably a BIOS screen for changing it but that would have been harder. :)
I am a little confused. What date did you start with?
 
Top