kernel reports TIME_ERROR: 0x2041: Clock Unsynchronized

areckethennu

I restarted my NTP service on pfSense 21.02.2-RELEASE (amd64). I've included the log information from Status > System Logs >NTP between when I restarted the service and now. Two things that I wonder about are the top (latest) line showing that "-> <null>" when I (successfully) set the time on one of my Windows machine and the two "kernel reports TIME_ERROR: 0x2041: Clock Unsynchronized" lines about 8 down. Are those normal? The various time indicators in pfSense seem to indicate all is fine (NTP Status widget on the Dashboard, Status > NTP, and even the graph at Status > Monitoring > NTP). But, the above make me wonder.

Jun 30 10:00:35	ntpd	12117	71.168.219.127 local addr 192.168.1.1 -> <null>
Jun 30 09:50:25	ntpd	12117	Soliciting pool server 2601:603:b7f:fec0::bad:beef
Jun 30 09:50:24	ntpd	12117	Soliciting pool server 157.245.125.229
Jun 30 09:50:24	ntpd	12117	Soliciting pool server 71.168.219.127
Jun 30 09:50:24	ntpd	12117	Soliciting pool server 206.82.28.3
Jun 30 09:50:23	ntpd	12117	Soliciting pool server 192.81.135.252
Jun 30 09:50:22	ntpd	12117	Soliciting pool server 184.105.182.16
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	12117	kernel reports TIME_ERROR: 0x2041: Clock Unsynchronized
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	12117	kernel reports TIME_ERROR: 0x2041: Clock Unsynchronized
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	12117	Listening on routing socket on fd #26 for interface updates
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	12117	Listen normally on 5 lo0 127.0.0.1:123
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	12117	Listen normally on 4 lo0 [::1]:123
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	12117	Listen normally on 3 igb0 [2600:8801:102:9c00:208:a2ff:fe0b:9184]:123
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	12117	Listen normally on 2 igb0 [fe80::1:1%1]:123
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	12117	Listen normally on 1 igb0 192.168.1.1:123
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	12117	Listen normally on 0 igb0 [fe80::208:a2ff:fe0b:9184%1]:123
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	12117	gps base set to 2021-02-28 (week 2147)
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	12117	basedate set to 2021-02-26
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	12117	proto: precision = 0.360 usec (-21)
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	11783	----------------------------------------------------
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	11783	available at https://www.nwtime.org/support
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	11783	corporation. Support and training for ntp-4 are
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	11783	Inc. (NTF), a non-profit 501(c)(3) public-benefit
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	11783	ntp-4 is maintained by Network Time Foundation,
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	11783	----------------------------------------------------
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	11783	Command line: /usr/local/sbin/ntpd -g -c /var/etc/ntpd.conf -p /var/run/ntpd.pid
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	11783	ntpd 4.2.8p15@1.3728-o Wed Mar 10 18:53:26 UTC 2021 (1): Starting
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	65966	2001:da8:a807::25 local addr 2600:8801:102:9c00:208:a2ff:fe0b:9184 -> <null>
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	65966	185.32.222.237 local addr 192.168.1.1 -> <null>
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	65966	162.159.200.123 local addr 192.168.1.1 -> <null>
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	65966	95.216.149.161 local addr 192.168.1.1 -> <null>
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	65966	171.66.97.126 local addr 192.168.1.1 -> <null>
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	65966	50.205.244.21 local addr 192.168.1.1 -> <null>
Jun 30 09:50:21	ntpd	65966	ntpd exiting on signal 15 (Terminated)

EDIT: and, just for completeness, here's some more information:

The Dashboard widget looks like:

NTP Status 
Server Time	10:30:35 PDT
Sync Source	2601:603:b7f:fec0::bad:beef (stratum 2)

Status > NTP looks like:

Network Time Protocol Status
Pool Placeholder	0.pfsense.pool.ntp.org	.POOL.	16	p	-	64	0	0.000	+0.000	0.000
Pool Placeholder	1.pfsense.pool.ntp.org	.POOL.	16	p	-	64	0	0.000	+0.000	0.000
Pool Placeholder	2.pfsense.pool.ntp.org	.POOL.	16	p	-	64	0	0.000	+0.000	0.000
Pool Placeholder	0.pool.ntp.org	.POOL.	16	p	-	64	0	0.000	+0.000	0.000
Pool Placeholder	1.pool.ntp.org	.POOL.	16	p	-	64	0	0.000	+0.000	0.000
Candidate	184.105.182.16	216.218.254.202	2	u	63	128	377	21.181	+1.840	1.017
Candidate	192.81.135.252	80.72.67.48	3	u	66	128	377	21.178	-1.132	1.302
Outlier	206.82.28.3	61.233.105.6	2	u	85	128	377	79.371	+4.080	1.500
Outlier	157.245.125.229	129.6.15.30	2	u	67	128	377	72.580	+0.087	1.437
Active Peer	2601:603:b7f:fec0::bad:beef	216.218.192.202	2	u	73	128	377	49.845	+3.735	2.787

And, the Monitoring graph looks like:

areckethennu

@areckethennu

Your clock is ahead
A private connection to www.[website].com can't be established because your computer's date and time (Saturday, July 3, 2021 at 6:22:06 AM) are incorrect.
NET::ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID

I've gotten the above message in my browser twice now (different websites). Nothing has changed from my OP (everything LOOKS fine in pfSense). According to Windows 10, my time is still correctly syncing to the pfSense box. Manually syncing the time at the OS level works fine with no visible change to the time. I'm not sure what it's worth, but going to:

https://time.gov/

shows my time to be off by +0.192 seconds. I'm assuming that's a reasonable difference. So, I'm not sure whether the fault is with the sites, the browser, the OS or with pfSense.

poechii

I'm getting the same issue. I don't know how long this has been showing up in my logs, but I've tried troubleshooting it, including starting fresh with a new pfSense installation and config. Like you said, it seems like everything is okay so I don't know if there's a problem or not. I haven't seen what you seen with the browser and I'm not sure where to look to check if I'm seeing that error too. Other than that, same thing.

I'm using a PCengines APU2E4 with v4.14.0.1 firmware. Do you have the same board?

Here's my logs with my IP addresses redacted.

Jul 4 07:50:15 rt ntpd[22767]: Soliciting pool server 108.59.2.24
Jul 4 07:50:14 rt ntpd[22767]: Soliciting pool server 108.61.73.244
Jul 4 07:50:13 rt ntpd[22767]: Soliciting pool server 204.93.207.12
Jul 4 07:50:12 rt ntpd[22767]: Soliciting pool server 209.180.247.49
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22767]: kernel reports TIME_ERROR: 0x2041: Clock Unsynchronized
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22767]: kernel reports TIME_ERROR: 0x2041: Clock Unsynchronized
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22767]: Listening on routing socket on fd #31 for interface updates
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22767]: Listen normally on 10 lo0 127.0.0.1:123
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22767]: Listen normally on 9 lo0 [fe80::1%5]:123
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22767]: Listen normally on 8 lo0 [::1]:123
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22767]: Listen normally on 7 igb2 <redacted>:123
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22767]: Listen normally on 6 igb2 [fe80::<redacted>%3]:123
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22767]: Listen normally on 5 igb1 <redacted>:123
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22767]: Listen normally on 4 igb1 [fe80::<redacted>%2]:123
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22767]: Listen normally on 3 igb0 <redacted>:123
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22767]: Listen normally on 2 igb0 [fe80::<redacted>%1]:123
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22767]: Listen and drop on 1 v4wildcard 0.0.0.0:123
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22767]: Listen and drop on 0 v6wildcard [::]:123
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22767]: gps base set to 2021-02-28 (week 2147)
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22767]: basedate set to 2021-02-26
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22767]: proto: precision = 0.413 usec (-21)
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22495]: ----------------------------------------------------
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22495]: available at https://www.nwtime.org/support
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22495]: corporation. Support and training for ntp-4 are
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22495]: Inc. (NTF), a non-profit 501(c)(3) public-benefit
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22495]: ntp-4 is maintained by Network Time Foundation,
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22495]: ----------------------------------------------------
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22495]: Command line: /usr/local/sbin/ntpd -g -c /var/etc/ntpd.conf -p /var/run/ntpd.pid
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22495]: ntpd 4.2.8p15@1.3728-o Wed Mar 10 18:50:10 UTC 2021 (1): Starting
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[76384]: 23.94.219.121 local addr <redacted> -> <null>
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[76384]: 216.218.254.202 local addr <redacted> -> <null>
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[76384]: 162.159.200.1 local addr <redacted> -> <null>
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[76384]: 198.211.103.209 local addr <redacted> -> <null>

EDIT: I'm also using version 2.5.1. I just realized that you're probably using official Netgate hardware seeing your version. So I'm guessing this might not be specific to hardware, if it's even something worth worrying about. It's not uncommon to see noise like this in pfSense.

areckethennu

@radicalentity I'm on an SG-4860 appliance with pfSense version 21.05-RELEASE (amd64). I just updated from the previous version to see if that would clear this. Nope. Same issue. I THINK the TIME_ERROR is just because of restarting the NTP service and it "fixes" itself as the time servers settle down. I only noticed the issue in the logs when I was trying to figure out why those sites thought my time was wrong. But, since my time seems to be correct, I'm thinking it was just a spurious event.

poechii

@areckethennu Even so, if your device has a battery backed RTC chip, you should still have a relatively accurate time set even when rebooting and having NTP disabled.

One thing I seen in my logs that make me wonder is this:

Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22767]: gps base set to 2021-02-28 (week 2147)
Jul 4 07:50:11 rt ntpd[22767]: basedate set to 2021-02-26

And I'm not even using GPS to set my time. I don't even have a GPS radio in it.

areckethennu

@radicalentity I've gone back and tested on of the websites that gave me the time error:

http://www.neocoregames.com/2015/07/questions-and-answers-about-van-helsing-final-cut/

It still does (on multiple browsers). Yet, https://time.gov/ shows my time as being off by just +0.319s. Having Windows re-sync it's time with pfsense changes that difference to +0.310s, but that page still gives the same error. It looks like it's an old page (2015), so I'm wondering if there's something wrong on their end.

poechii

@areckethennu said in kernel reports TIME_ERROR: 0x2041: Clock Unsynchronized:

http://www.neocoregames.com/2015/07/questions-and-answers-about-van-helsing-final-cut/

Oh, that's likely on their end. That site is also using an expired certificate. If you're still able to access other TLS secured sites without a problem, then it's nothing on your end.

areckethennu

@radicalentity Thanks for checking that. I should have thought to actually look at their certificate (it expired 2 years ago). With that in mind, I checked the certificate of the other site that gave me the time error and it turns out that it's also expired (just 5 days ago).

So, I'm pretty sure everything's actually OK here. Hopefully, you aren't having any issues on your end.

poechii

@areckethennu Nope. I think this might be log noise, but at least I know I'm not the only one seeing this. I borked my previous installation and when I started fresh, I thought my hardware was messed up some how when seeing that. Like something was wrong with my hardware clock, but it's just fine apparently. It's set correctly to UTC.