Date and time reset?

I've had my macbook pro since 2009. Recently I've been having this problem where if I forget to charge my mac and it dies, when I charge it and turn it back on, the date and time are set to like December 2000 at 7 PM and then it looses my internet connection. Then when I finally set the time and date correct and connect to the internet places like facebook, youtube, and my email are all logged out.

Is there any way to fix this issue? I get tired of having to change the date and time all the time.

You shouldn't have to reset the date and time even if the battery gives out. The date and time is kept in memory by the PRAM battery which is different from the main battery. Your PRAM battery could be dying although that would be unusual since your machine is only three years old.

I did some searching...and it seems that the Unibody MacBook Pro's don't have a pram battery.

I know with some Apple laptops in the past...there's a capacitor that gets charged up...so that when the laptop's main battery is removed for a short time, or swapped for a different battery...the computers pram settings are retained.

But if the laptops main battery is completely discharged or removed for a long time (and the computer is not plugged in)...then this capacitor is eventually drained as well...and then the pram settings are lost.

HTH,

- Nick

Thanks for your help guys!

Usually what happens is it will die and then like a minute later it's usually plugged in and turned on. Then it will either show the lines that it's loading which means everything has been saved. Or the apple logo shows up with that noise and a percentage bar thing shows up and I know that means nothing saved.

Could it be because my main battery needs to be replaced soon? When I click on the charge icon, it says "condition: replace soon"

foreverandalway said:

Could it be because my main battery needs to be replaced soon? When I click on the charge icon, it says "condition: replace soon"

Click to expand...

DING DING DING DING...sounds like we have a winner!

If the main battery is dying (running out of "juice")...then there's no "spark" to retain the pram settings.

- Nick

Good info Nick. I didn't know the unibody Pros were like the older iBooks where a capacitor was used to keep the PRAM alive. Makes sense that if the main battery dies, the machine takes a time trip back into the past.

chscag said:

Good info Nick. I didn't know the unibody Pros were like the older iBooks where a capacitor was used to keep the PRAM alive. Makes sense that if the main battery dies, the machine takes a time trip back into the past.

Click to expand...

When I did some quick searching...I found a couple references to the Unibody MacBook Pro's not having a pram battery. It didn't exactly say that there was a capacitor in them...but there must be some way of retaining a charge to preserve the pram setting if someone wanted to swap out the battery for a 2nd fresh one.

Or maybe Apple eliminated the capacitor and/or pram battery...figuring the typical 2009 MacBook Pro user doesn't swap batteries. And you just have to re-enter the pram settings (user settings) when a new battery is purchased.

I also checked OWC...and they don't sell a pram battery for these MacBook Pro's.

Finally (just to be sure we know exactly what we are dealing with)...probably should confirm with the OP the exact model MacBook Pro we are talking about. Since in the 2009 timeframe (mid-2009)...is when Apple switched from the user swappable battery...to the non-user swappable laptop battery.

- Nick