Chapter in this post:
I have two switchable Fritz! Sockets in operation that switch Christmas fairy lights on and off according to time in two rooms. Two days ago I was amazed that one of them would come on in the middle of the night (2 a.m. or something), when I certainly hadn't programmed it for it. First thought: you've been hacked and someone is having fun with the Christmas lights! Second thought: I have to go to bed ... it was also in the middle of the night. So I forgot the whole thing until I heard another socket click to activate itself.
The date of the mail that I receive from the Fritzbox once a day already seemed suspicious to me. It bears the date 1 ... now it was already clear to me that someone here had "forgotten" their time, because 03.01.1970 is such a typical "default time" for Linux. Preferably 1970/01.01.1970/0 at midnight. It's kind of like the birth of Christ for the Linux guys.
If the Fritz! Box shows a date with 1970 in the overview, then you know that something is not entirely normal. :)
Accordingly, there seemed to be a problem with the time in the Fritz! Box. But then I was a bit surprised, because the Fritz! Box uses a time server to constantly get the current time. That could only fail if the internet didn't work, which was not the case with me. So there is only one possibility: the time server has failed its service for a few days. For me (as probably for all other Fritz! Box users) the default time server is "0.europe.pool.ntp.org".
You can find this entry if you look in the Fritz! Box admin on "Home network" -> "Network settings" and then below under "Time synchronization". There you will find the corresponding URL under "Time server".
I then simply threw out the time server and exchanged it for this address from Apple: "time.euro.apple.com". Lo and behold: The time in the Fritz! Box overview is up to date and correct again.
Hopefully my fairy lights will now switch on and off accordingly. Praise to Apple! :-)
Today I received a reader tip that came in through the comments. If things with the time server do not improve, you can set the time zone manually. This works in this way:
I have to chat a little out of the box. The post here is already a few years old (and still works!), But usually it hardly has any views. Only a few days a year there are hundreds of visitors in one day - why I haven't understood yet. I almost assume that there will then be a longer failure of a time server that is stored by default in Fritz! Fon telephones or in the Fritz! Box. Perhaps you will have a look at what is registered with you as a time server and give me feedback using the comment function. Then I could see if it's always the same on a day. Thanks!
I just got a hint from an IT person because his customer also had the problem with the wrong date. All the things that have been described here so far have not brought any success. Ultimately, it turned out that his customer had not paid his bill at T for weeks and they had blocked his connection for this reason. Without a connection there is no internet and without internet there is no connection to any time server. ;-)
Jens has been running the blog since 2012. He appears as Sir Apfelot for his readers and helps them with problems of a technical nature. In his free time he drives electric unicycles, takes photos (preferably with his iPhone, of course), climbs around in the Hessian mountains or hikes with the family. His articles deal with Apple products, news from the world of drones or solutions for current bugs.
28 comments
Hallo,
For a few days now I have had the problem that all WLAN devices suddenly no longer have the Internet.
Restarting the FRITZ! Box always helps, but only for a short time.
And again the internet was gone for all WLAN devices. Internal data traffic was still possible.
So I started looking for the cause. No errors found, except that the time was wrong.
Here, too, the magical date of January 1st, 1970. With this date and the FRITZ! Box, I landed on your page.
I also changed the timeserver. Since then there has been calm again in the box.
Thank you for your helpful contribution.
Greetings from Frankfurt am Main,
Mark.
Hi Markus! Thank you for your feedback signal. I am pleased that the documentation of my troubleshooting is helpful for one or the other. : D LG from Hessian Siberia to the main metropolis! ;-)
hey sir appleot,
I was also puzzled about the ominous date and the Google search led me to your entry. To cut a long story short ... your tip also helped me a lot !!
Then I wish you a Merry Christmas and best regards from Darmstadt (but a native of Frankfurt) ... in this sense ... Guuuuude from Adi
Hello Adi! Ah, wonderful. :) Then I wish you a Merry Christmas and send greetings back to South Hesse (directly from North Hesse!). : D
Hello Sir Apfelot
I have the same problem and have replaced the time server. But unfortunately the magic date is still coming. No device works, unless the Alexa cheerfully warls to itself.
Do you have another tip?
gruß
Philip
Hello Phillip! I would restart Fritz! Fon and Fritz! Box. Maybe that helps. Hardy has had success with the time servers mentioned here, if I understood correctly.
It worked great for me too. Thanks.
For me it's still 1.1.1970 2:20 no idea why despite the change
Hello, Josef! Uh, sorry ... then I don't know any more trick. :-)
It worked for me immediately…. Thank you very much for this tutorial, where the date from 2014 displayed by the Google search was already worried that it might no longer work today at the end of 2020. But everything is fine! Thank you very much and greetings from the Lower Rhine!
Wonderful. I wrote in the Google Description that it will still work in 2019. Maybe that will help the coming people who are looking. : D
I had the same problem today and after a bit of googling I found your page on 01.01.70. Thanks for the solution, so it will still work in 2020 :)
2.europe.pool.ntp.org is it with me
But it doesn't work ...
Best regards
Hello, just after your instructions I eliminated my error immediately.
The last credible time stamp in my Fritz! Box was on January 23.01.2020rd, 19 at 57:XNUMX p.m.
The time servers entered ex works were: ntp1.t-online.de; 2.europe.pool.ntp.org
The subsequent research and tests with the ntpdate command under Linux on both time servers produced correct results.
Thanks for the amusing and apt description!
I investigated a bug in the push mail. With the system time of 1970 GMX doesn’t want to pass anything on except an error message.
It has been going on for me since January 18.1.2020th, XNUMX.
The failed timeserver was also: 2.europe.pool.ntp.org
Good day
For me it did not work with a FritzBox 7390 at first.
I then looked for further settings.
I then switched the setting “automatic” to “manual” (GMT +1) under “Region and Language” in the “Time Zone” submenu and it was there, after restarting the box, the world was fine again.
Thanks a lot for the tip
Hello Manou! Thanks for the tip. I did not know. But it is also a good way. I mention it again in the article. LG!
Hallo,
Thank you for the advice!
I came to your side as well as the others! Funnily enough, there are also notes here at AVM, but which are not correct. Since the settings like the ones you specify cannot be found there!
I suspect that this is because the 7490 is not used directly by me as a router, but only as an IP client.
It always reports that there is no internet, but everything works!
I'm curious whether my network malfunctions have now been resolved!
I've done the whole thing since the update to version 7.11, meanwhile 7.12 has already been installed, but nothing helped!
Cheers
Hello Weixi!
Does that mean that you still have the wrong date and that it does not work correctly even after changing or switching off the time server?
Hallo,
For the sake of completeness, you should also check whether there is an error in the static routing tables (home network -> network -> network settings -> IPv4 routes) that prevents the standard gateway from being found.
I run a Fritzbox for my children that is connected to the parents Fritzbox via LAN. To be on the safe side, I had changed the routing tables of the children's Fritzbox so that a non-existent gateway should be used for addresses from the parent network.
That worked so far, but it also prevented time synchronization. Only when I had configured the routing tables so that everything except xxx0 / 255.255.255.252 goes through the fake gateway, the parent Fritzbox could be reached with the IP xxx1.
Thanks for the hint! I only understood half of it, but I think those concerned are happy about the hint. : D
So where do I have to look?
My Huawei box is the DHCP server, it distributes all IPs without restrictions.
Then the Fritzbox hangs on this then a 16-fold switch for the room distribution. However, the Fritzbox also provides the WiFi.
After the switch I also connected a Fritz Repeater outside via LAN.
Something is wrong somewhere.
Hello Weixi! So, logically, the switch shouldn't be the problem. It could be the DHCP server sooner. But maybe the time server in the Fritz! Box is simply not correct. You'd have to try it out.
But there aren't that many possibilities.
Hi, the same problem with me today, I must have restarted the router three times.
Timeserver is 2.europe.pool.ntp.org
Tach,
I found the page because I was actually looking for the date and time in the Fritz! Box, which are currently "valid" on the box - Fritz! Dect 301 changed over at an inopportune time and his battery still reports 40%….
Also found this page here. I don't have a 1970 problem, but I would like to leave a note: You can also set several time servers, the combination has worked for me for years: "ntp1.t-online.de; 2.europe.pool.ntp.org"
It's not hard to guess that the first one is from the provider :)
Oh yes, self-diagnosis of the box started and emailed, the time finally appears there (and it's true). Presumably, the box has so because of the nightly switchover. Contract upgrade (DSL50 / 10 to 100/40) easily swallowed. I'll watch it for a few more days.
Hi.
I got to the site through Google. I kept having time problems with my 7590 and the mesh repeaters, and if the repeaters can't retrieve the time, then our photovoltaic system can't report either and I can't charge the e-car.
I've put it on the Apple server and it's fun so far. Thanks.
Great, I'm happy! 😊