Clock issue on Noble

PhAndersson

@gpatel-fr Thanks a lot for the feedback. I'm glad to know it's not specific to the Quintus.

The only thing I can tell is that I never had the same issue on my Pixel running Focal. It only connects on the Wifi at home, and occasionally uses mobile data, but it always keeps a reasonably accurate clock.

I wonder whether this could not be linked as well to the new support for VoLTE: could it be that the Pixel is able to get its time from the traditional GSM network, whereas VoLTE on Noble doesn't support that feature yet?

In any case, that's a bit problematic if you want to use your phone as alarm clock when you travel...

gpatel-fr

@PhAndersson said:

the Pixel is able to get its time from the traditional GSM networ

My memory is a bit dim on the subject and it's all hearsay anyway, however I remember I was said otherwise.

Sorry to not be more precise however my meter says that I posted 563 posts in 9 months, so I finding precise details in the answers I got in all theses threads is not an attractive proposition.

It could be that the Pixel is able to save clock and this ability was lost on more recent phones.

@PhAndersson said:

use your phone as alarm clock when you travel

not sure it's a huge priority - there is an obvious workaround: do not stop your phone during the night.

PhAndersson

@gpatel-fr said:

@PhAndersson said:

the Pixel is able to get its time from the traditional GSM network

My memory is a bit dim on the subject and it's all hearsay anyway, however I remember I was said otherwise.

After investigating the issue further (see below), I believe you're right. I just assumed it would be possible because my old Nokia N900 running Maemo used to do it (silly me ).

It could be that the Pixel is able to save clock and this ability was lost on more recent phones.

Yes and no... Looking inside 'journal' on the Pixel, I found the following:

Jun 07 22:05:10 hatshepsut systemd[1]: Starting Timekeeper is a utility to keep/restore RTC offset for Qualcomm devices...
Jun 08 08:18:54 hatshepsut systemd[1]: Finished Timekeeper is a utility to keep/restore RTC offset for Qualcomm devices.

Meaning that RTC support seems to be linked to the Qualcomm chipset. The Quintus starts the same service, but as it uses the MediaTek Dimensity 7050 chipset, I guess retrieving the HW clock just (silently) fails.

Further down in 'journal' on the Quintus, I see the following entry that seems to confirm it:

May 21 14:28:02 ubuntu-phablet systemd-timesyncd[1401]: System clock time unset or jumped backwards, restored from recorded timestamp: Thu 2026-05-21 14:28:02 CEST

What I don't understand is that you said you had the same problem on your FP5, even though that one does have a Qualcomm chipset (a more recent one than the Pixel, obviously).

@PhAndersson said:

use your phone as alarm clock when you travel

not sure it's a huge priority - there is an obvious workaround: do not stop your phone during the night.

Right, yes, I agree -- probably not a huge priority. Still, it bothers me because it also means my log timestamps are untrustworthy most of the time, as are the time-related EXIF data fields of my pictures, etc. Accurate timekeeping on anything computer-like is one of the fundamentals in my book

So I guess I'll report it to Volla nonetheless and see where it leads...

gpatel-fr

@PhAndersson

I had this problem at some point but I don't see it anymore.
As my logs don't get far back enough, I can't find it in old logs but I remember a time where my logs were always displaying a wrong date at the beginning.

the README.md states more completely:

Timekeeper is a utility to keep/restore RTC offset for Qualcomm devices, this is needed on devices with read only RTC drivers

I don't know what this could mean for Volla phones.

PhAndersson

@gpatel-fr said:
I don't know what this could mean for Volla phones.

Neither do I -- I just created a support ticket with them that includes all the troubleshooting info I have. We'll see...

PhAndersson

Still no feedback from Volla. Created the following issue about it: [Bug] Volla Quintus: RTC problem: correct time/date not preserved across power cycles.

gpatel-fr

@PhAndersson

Maybe you could try to disable the Timekeeper service ?

PhAndersson

@gpatel-fr said:

@PhAndersson

Maybe you could try to disable the Timekeeper service ?

I think you nailed it! Congrats!

After having disabled and stopped the service, I powered off the phone for a couple of hours, and when I restarted it, the clock was at the expected value (i.e. 2 hours later).

In the logs, I have the following:

Jun 05 17:36:39 ubuntu-phablet systemd[1]: Starting timekeeper.service - Timekeeper is a utility to keep/restore RTC offset for Qualcomm devices...
Jun 23 23:29:43 ubuntu-phablet systemd[1]: Finished timekeeper.service - Timekeeper is a utility to keep/restore RTC offset for Qualcomm devices.
Jun 23 23:29:43 ubuntu-phablet systemd[1]: Starting systemd-timesyncd.service - Network Time Synchronization...

Jun 23 23:29:43 ubuntu-phablet systemd[1]: Started systemd-timesyncd.service - Network Time Synchronization.

As you can see, the "clock time unset or jumped backwards" message no longer appears, and the clock value only jumps once.

I'll update the Gitlab issue accordingly. I guess the Timekeeper service should only be enabled on devices that use the Qualcomm chipset, not in all cases.

PhAndersson

To make double-sure, I'll let the phone NTP-synch on the WiFi at home this evening, then power it off for the night, and confirm tomorrow that its time is still "believable" after powering it up while offline.

PhAndersson

Yes! I confirm that disabling the Timekeeper service resolves the issue. The clock on the phone was still correct this morning after turning it on in "offline" mode.

Which also confirms that RTC is indeed supported natively on the Quintus.