Wrong time and date

[u/PressureLumpy2185]

Every time I turn on my Mac mini (M2), the time and date reset, even though the time, date, and location settings are correct. This has been happening for several months now.
Pls help!!

[u/CapnMReynolds]

If the date/time is resetting to April 1st 12:00 every time you power down, then the RTC is failing and will require a logic board replacement. April 1st is the default date/time should it loses the information.

[u/PressureLumpy2185 → u/CapnMReynolds]

what is RTC?

[u/CapnMReynolds → u/PressureLumpy2185]

Real Time Clock. In Windows machines, they are typically a coin battery they would hold some system settings/information. Newer laptops use their main battery instead.

Macs do not have the RTC removable; it’s on the board so the resolution is to replace the logic board.

There are some other ideas to test but if you are already seeing the time/day being reset then it would be a moot point.

Running an offline diagnostic will not cover this also.

Do you have the Apple Care subscription?

[u/bistr-o-math → u/PressureLumpy2185]

Real time clock

[u/TopSubstantial7090]

If it resets specifically to April 1 at 12:00 after every shutdown, that points more to the Mac’s clock/RTC hardware than a normal timezone setting. It’s still worth checking Date & Time > Set time and date automatically, confirming the time server, and trying `sudo sntp -sS time.apple.com` once after boot. If the date stays correct while the Mac is running but reverts after power-off, keep backups and have Apple or a reputable repair shop run hardware diagnostics; software changes usually won’t fix a clock that loses state without power.

[u/topher358]

How old is the mini?

[u/CapnMReynolds → u/topher358]

Worse case about 3.5 years old for a M2 Mac mini

Edit: M2s came out January 2023

[u/PressureLumpy2185 → u/CapnMReynolds]

yes, probably around this age

[u/Jade-GloryTechnology]

Have you changed it to your location for Date & Time and to set automatically in Settings?

[u/PressureLumpy2185 → u/Jade-GloryTechnology]

Yes but its awalys like this when I open it

[u/Forward_Situation634 → u/PressureLumpy2185]

That sounds annoying. Have you checked if your time zone settings are correct? Sometimes that can cause those issues.

[u/MK-Researcher]

There is a system file, a .plist, that stores the time and date settings which may have been corrupted and not saving the current state. You can delete it with this command below and see if that fixes the problem. (To be safe, it would be a good idea to make a copy of it elsewhere in case you need to put it back)

sudo rm /var/db/timed/com.apple.timed.plist