How large is the "real" offset? What happens if you set the time
yourself to a value reasonable close to the actual value?
About 3.5 hrs... The reason I found the bouncing numbers suspect was
that I have a dual-boot XP/OpenBSD laptop for field work. The time
reported from the system clock in XP vs. OpenBSD is always 7 hrs off, but
ntpd converges cleanly on the actual time on that old Dell Latitude.
I manually changed the clock so that it was ~30 minutes off actual.
The time appears to be converging a little more predictably now.
Sep 3 01:06:06 dl360-800 ntpd[25752]: ntp engine ready
Sep 3 01:06:07 dl360-800 savecore: no core dump
Sep 3 01:06:29 dl360-800 ntpd[25752]: peer 62.149.14.222 now valid
Sep 3 01:07:24 dl360-800 ntpd[20261]: adjusting local clock by
1738.268778s
Sep 3 01:11:53 dl360-800 ntpd[20261]: adjusting local clock by
1727.952257s
Sep 3 01:15:13 dl360-800 ntpd[20261]: adjusting local clock by
1720.300831s
Sep 3 01:19:41 dl360-800 ntpd[20261]: adjusting local clock by
1709.898174s
Sep 3 01:24:15 dl360-800 ntpd[20261]: adjusting local clock by
1699.403299s
Sep 3 01:25:22 dl360-800 ntpd[20261]: adjusting local clock by
1696.860246s
Sep 3 01:29:26 dl360-800 ntpd[20261]: adjusting local clock by
1687.461275s
Up until that move-the-clock-closer change, the numbers reported by ntpd
were appeared in what looks to be a couple of discrete ranges...sometimes
even increasing for the entries clearly not in the correct range
(~12000 to 13000s) at that time.
Sep 2 15:01:34 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
7798.724879s
Sep 2 15:05:20 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13446.206131s
Sep 2 15:06:24 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2145.038121s
Sep 2 15:07:31 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
7791.831799s
Sep 2 15:11:49 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13431.275244s
Sep 2 15:13:22 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
7785.823806s
Sep 2 15:15:31 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13422.782728s
Sep 2 15:19:56 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13412.590067s
Sep 2 15:21:32 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13408.929958s
Sep 2 15:25:16 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13400.332153s
Sep 2 15:28:31 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13392.807482s
Sep 2 15:30:06 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13389.173186s
Sep 2 15:32:49 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
7762.083958s
Sep 2 15:37:05 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13373.105074s
Sep 2 15:38:10 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2144.954800s
Sep 2 15:39:47 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
7754.032285s
Sep 2 15:41:38 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 83.170.1.225 now invalid
Sep 2 15:41:38 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 66.90.78.182 now invalid
Sep 2 15:41:38 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 24.130.207.189 now invalid
Sep 2 15:41:58 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13361.852470s
Sep 2 15:45:40 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13353.318526s
Sep 2 15:49:27 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2138.751600s
Sep 2 15:51:53 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 84.16.227.200 now valid
Sep 2 15:52:09 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13338.376743s
Sep 2 15:52:38 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 81.5.136.18 now valid
Sep 2 15:55:57 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13329.650124s
Sep 2 15:59:42 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13320.971186s
Sep 2 16:01:19 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 62.206.253.10 now invalid
Sep 2 16:02:55 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 84.16.227.200 now invalid
Sep 2 16:03:30 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13312.285860s
Sep 2 16:07:45 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13302.471098s
Sep 2 16:11:00 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13295.005341s
Sep 2 16:13:44 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2141.180582s
Sep 2 16:14:48 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2138.724389s
Sep 2 16:18:38 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13277.439112s
Sep 2 16:20:51 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13272.318780s
Sep 2 16:21:26 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2146.147600s
Sep 2 16:24:44 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13263.369168s
Sep 2 16:26:55 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2142.442300s
Sep 2 16:28:32 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13254.628506s
Sep 2 16:29:05 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2146.227600s
Sep 2 16:32:24 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13245.731779s
Sep 2 16:34:35 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13240.699778s
Sep 2 16:34:50 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 83.170.1.225 now valid
Sep 2 16:35:02 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 24.130.207.189 now valid
Sep 2 16:36:00 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 66.90.78.182 now valid
Sep 2 16:37:19 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13234.387662s
Sep 2 16:41:41 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13224.326819s
Sep 2 16:43:13 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
7682.398192s
Sep 2 16:46:58 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13212.159952s
Sep 2 16:48:33 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13208.498850s
Sep 2 16:51:50 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13200.944922s
Sep 2 16:55:18 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 84.16.227.200 now valid
Sep 2 16:55:56 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 62.206.253.10 now valid
Sep 2 16:56:08 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13191.061634s
Sep 2 17:00:30 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13180.982426s
Sep 2 17:03:48 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13173.394425s
Sep 2 17:07:36 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13164.637403s
Sep 2 17:08:43 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2144.937083s
Sep 2 17:12:31 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13153.318269s
Sep 2 17:14:05 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
7646.806323s
Sep 2 17:15:40 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
7646.794921s
Sep 2 17:16:11 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
4895.934554s
Sep 2 17:20:36 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13134.695894s
Sep 2 17:24:22 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13126.049736s
Sep 2 17:25:08 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 66.90.78.182 now invalid
Sep 2 17:25:08 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 24.130.207.189 now invalid
Sep 2 17:28:04 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13117.498051s
Sep 2 17:29:42 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
7628.735737s
Sep 2 17:33:35 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13104.814199s
Sep 2 17:37:55 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13094.837907s
Sep 2 17:39:30 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2143.829237s
Sep 2 17:42:11 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13084.990458s
Sep 2 17:45:56 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13076.379573s
Sep 2 17:47:59 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 84.16.227.200 now invalid
Sep 2 17:50:14 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13066.436572s
Sep 2 17:51:19 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2144.995673s
Sep 2 17:53:30 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13058.927869s
Sep 2 17:56:38 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13051.740031s
Sep 2 17:58:51 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2142.378290s
Sep 2 18:02:01 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13039.320806s
Sep 2 18:05:16 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13031.822795s
Sep 2 18:06:21 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2145.004986s
Sep 2 18:07:25 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2142.550981s
Sep 2 18:08:48 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 81.5.136.18 now invalid
Sep 2 18:11:15 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13018.040462s
Sep 2 18:14:00 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13011.707898s
Sep 2 18:15:57 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 66.90.78.182 now valid
Sep 2 18:16:04 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
13006.988015s
Sep 2 18:19:55 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12998.077881s
Sep 2 18:20:25 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 24.130.207.189 now valid
Sep 2 18:23:04 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12990.836930s
Sep 2 18:26:46 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12982.296397s
Sep 2 18:28:55 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12977.368303s
Sep 2 18:30:01 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
7559.909737s
Sep 2 18:34:09 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12965.314347s
Sep 2 18:37:23 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12957.862817s
Sep 2 18:37:53 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2146.324616s
Sep 2 18:40:03 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
7546.517841s
Sep 2 18:40:45 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 84.16.227.200 now valid
Sep 2 18:41:17 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 84.16.227.200 now invalid
Sep 2 18:44:24 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12941.722338s
Sep 2 18:47:04 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12935.559393s
Sep 2 18:51:18 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12925.827219s
Sep 2 18:55:28 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12916.206607s
Sep 2 18:58:09 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12910.044464s
Sep 2 19:01:51 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12901.512216s
Sep 2 19:02:02 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 81.5.136.18 now valid
Sep 2 19:03:25 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2143.892570s
Sep 2 19:06:01 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12891.923017s
Sep 2 19:09:21 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12884.239973s
Sep 2 19:12:02 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12878.074196s
Sep 2 19:15:44 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12869.546839s
Sep 2 19:15:54 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 83.170.1.225 now invalid
Sep 2 19:16:17 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2146.236713s
Sep 2 19:20:10 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12859.359884s
Sep 2 19:24:30 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12849.371610s
Sep 2 19:27:45 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12841.886494s
Sep 2 19:31:32 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12833.152139s
Sep 2 19:32:03 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2146.327966s
Sep 2 19:35:14 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12824.644142s
Sep 2 19:36:10 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 84.16.227.200 now valid
Sep 2 19:39:05 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12815.767667s
Sep 2 19:39:39 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2146.184467s
Sep 2 19:42:15 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12808.468644s
Sep 2 19:44:24 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12803.555792s
Sep 2 19:48:35 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12793.891811s
Sep 2 19:49:05 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2146.331378s
Sep 2 19:52:24 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12785.133990s
Sep 2 19:54:35 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12780.066327s
Sep 2 19:57:49 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12772.633362s
Sep 2 19:58:03 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 66.90.78.182 now invalid
Sep 2 19:59:55 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2142.660997s
Sep 2 20:02:37 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12761.563360s
Sep 2 20:03:51 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 80.33.107.110 now invalid
Sep 2 20:06:14 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12753.236968s
Sep 2 20:06:44 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2146.349621s
Sep 2 20:08:05 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 83.170.1.225 now valid
Sep 2 20:08:54 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12747.094516s
Sep 2 20:11:34 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2141.351801s
Sep 2 20:14:16 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12734.758492s
Sep 2 20:16:54 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2141.422381s
Sep 2 20:17:39 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 62.206.253.10 now invalid
Sep 2 20:19:15 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 84.16.227.200 now invalid
Sep 2 20:20:09 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12721.224346s
Sep 2 20:23:19 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12713.900224s
Sep 2 20:26:00 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12707.740893s
Sep 2 20:29:42 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12699.213421s
Sep 2 20:30:46 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2145.012989s
Sep 2 20:32:24 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2141.239705s
Sep 2 20:34:34 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12687.996888s
Sep 2 20:36:45 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12682.979221s
Sep 2 20:39:22 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2141.444720s
Sep 2 20:43:12 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12668.101465s
Sep 2 20:46:55 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12659.552508s
Sep 2 20:48:32 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 66.90.78.182 now valid
Sep 2 20:51:17 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12649.499819s
Sep 2 20:52:53 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2143.790248s
Sep 2 20:55:33 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 80.33.107.110 now valid
Sep 2 20:56:07 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12638.382844s
Sep 2 20:58:43 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12632.370112s
Sep 2 20:59:25 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 83.170.1.225 now invalid
Sep 2 20:59:25 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 80.33.107.110 now invalid
Sep 2 21:02:52 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12622.828492s
Sep 2 21:05:38 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
7378.773587s
Sep 2 21:09:23 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12607.826005s
Sep 2 21:09:31 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 62.206.253.10 now valid
Sep 2 21:10:06 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 84.16.227.200 now valid
Sep 2 21:11:30 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12602.939086s
Sep 2 21:15:22 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12594.059407s
Sep 2 21:18:46 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12586.223555s
Sep 2 21:21:59 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12578.762437s
Sep 2 21:22:33 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2146.198352s
Sep 2 21:24:20 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 62.206.253.10 now invalid
Sep 2 21:26:17 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12568.905902s
Sep 2 21:27:55 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2143.713832s
Sep 2 21:29:31 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12561.435933s
Sep 2 21:31:39 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2142.584164s
Sep 2 21:34:23 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12550.226764s
Sep 2 21:37:07 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12543.946758s
Sep 2 21:39:45 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12537.907468s
Sep 2 21:40:29 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 24.130.207.189 now invalid
Sep 2 21:42:30 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12531.568861s
Sep 2 21:45:16 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
7333.146946s
Sep 2 21:49:06 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12516.352616s
Sep 2 21:50:35 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 80.33.107.110 now valid
Sep 2 21:53:27 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12506.329481s
Sep 2 21:53:41 dl360-800 ntpd[12524]: peer 83.170.1.225 now valid
Sep 2 21:57:39 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
12496.678333s
Sep 2 21:58:11 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2146.253974s
Sep 2 21:59:19 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
7318.235475s
Sep 2 22:00:22 dl360-800 ntpd[11652]: adjusting local clock by
2145.055200s
