Ubuntu
util-linux package

Lucid - hwclock won't work because /dev/rtc is missing

Asked by Nathan Callister

I am completely stuck.

I am running Ubuntu Linux 10.04.1 and I have installed Webmin version 1.520. The configuration interface for the time zone is blank.

The first place I looked was the Webmin logs (/var/webmin/miniserv.error) which repeat the following lines:

Error: hwclock failed :
Cannot access the Hardware Clock via any known method.
Use the --debug option to see the details of our search for an access method.

Logged in using SSH and ran the following (with response):

# hwclock --debug
hwclock from util-linux-ng 2.17.2
hwclock: Open of /dev/rtc failed, errno=2: No such file or directory.
No usable clock interface found.
Cannot access the Hardware Clock via any known method.

I checked and it is correct, there is no /dev/rtc file present.

I have been reading forums and have tried the following:

 * Reinstall the linux utilities (sudo apt-get --reinstall install util-linux): No effect
 * Manually load the rtc-cmos module (sudo modprobe rtc-cmos): No effect

The kernel logs are as follows:

# dmesg | grep rtc
[ 0.743859] rtc_cmos 00:03: RTC can wake from S4
[ 0.743945] rtc_cmos 00:03: rtc core: registered rtc_cmos as rtc0
[ 0.748862] Using IPI No-Shortcut mode
[ 0.749593] /build/buildd/linux-2.6.32/drivers/rtc/hctosys.c: unable to open rtc device (rtc0)

The module list shows the following:

# lsmod
Module Size Used by
fbcon 35102 71
tileblit 2031 1 fbcon
font 7557 1 fbcon
bitblit 4707 1 fbcon
softcursor 1189 1 bitblit
vga16fb 11385 0
vgastate 8961 1 vga16fb
snd_hda_codec_realtek 203312 1
i915 286433 1
drm_kms_helper 29297 1 i915
snd_hda_intel 22037 0
snd_hda_codec 74201 2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 5412 1 snd_hda_codec
drm 163098 2 i915,drm_kms_helper
snd_pcm 70886 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
i2c_algo_bit 5028 1 i915
ppdev 5259 0
snd_timer 19098 1 snd_pcm
psmouse 63245 0
video 17375 1 i915
parport_pc 26250 1
snd 54148 6 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore 6620 1 snd
serio_raw 3978 0
intel_agp 24415 2 i915
output 1871 1 video
agpgart 31788 2 drm,intel_agp
snd_page_alloc 7172 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
lp 7028 0
parport 32635 3 ppdev,parport_pc,lp
e1000e 120368 0

Any help is welcome. I need to get this server running and the user won't have access to the command line so I need to be able to set the time zone via Webmin.

Thanks in advance.

Nathan Callister
IWSoftware

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Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

Webmin isn't to be used in Ubuntu, it can and will break things. This is why it is NOT in the repositories any more.

Revision history for this message
Nathan Callister (ncallister) said : 		#2

Ok. I hear that you are saying that Ubuntu and Webmin aren't compatible. Does Ubuntu no longer support the hwclock command? The command is failing on its own without Webmin's assistance.

If Webmin is not supported, is there a recommended / supported web administration package for Ubuntu?

Revision history for this message
Nathan Callister (ncallister) said : 		#3

Update:

I've done a clean installation of Ubuntu 10.04.1 server with no additional software installed. Same problem.

At this point my best guess is it is a driver issue.

System specs are as follows:

CPU: Intel Atom N450 / D510
System Chipset: Intel Pineview-M + ICH8-M Chipset
BIOS: AMI 16 MB SPI BIOS

At this point I haven't been able to find linux chipset drivers by googling "ICH8-M Chipset linux drivers".

Any help that would save me time would be great. Continuing to investigate.

Revision history for this message
Nathan Callister (ncallister) said : 		#4

I have done a clean install of Ubuntu 11.04 (ubuntu-11.04-server-i386.iso) and hwclock is working.

We need to use the LTS for this installation because it will be a long term project and we need to keep receiving updates.

I am going to go through the drivers available in the two versions and see what has been added.

For reference I'm using: sudo modprobe -l | grep rtc

If that is the wrong way to see RTC drivers let me know.

If you know of anything that has changed in the clock code let me know.

Revision history for this message
Nathan Callister (ncallister) said : 		#5

Ok, now it just gets wierd.

I have a number of disks that I'm using for the ubuntu installations. In the latest test, mentioned above, I installed 11.04 onto a new disk and when it ran up hwclock was working. I then swapped in the original disk with 10.04.1 and hwclock is now working on that too.

Although I'm happy that it is now working which lets me progress with the project I'm very worried about why it wasn't working before.

It clearly isn't a driver issue since I didn't update anything on that drive since it was failing.

I'm now now confident that it won't fail again in the future since I don't know what caused the previous failure.

I would really like some assistance here from an experienced linux user. What could have caused this problem??

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) said : 		#6

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.