[FAQ] Time and Date flashing or unable to set time correctly

[SteffenBaierUK]

Incorrect Time or Time and Date flashing

The Polycom phones utilize the DHCP Option 42 or Option 4 in order to receive a Time Server address (SNTP / NTP) and Option 2 as a GMT Offset.

More details can be found => here <=

Note: There is no option to set the Time or Date to a manual Value.

If the two options suggested below are unavailable then the Clock and Date functionality can be turned off via the phone GUI:

Menu key => Settings => Basic => Preferences => Time and Date

Or via a configuration File using the provisioning method:

<time up.localClockEnabled="0"/>

Option 1: No time Server or Offset provided via DHCP:

If no Time Server is provided when receiving the DHCP Offer then the phone will just flash the Time and Date in the Display.

NOTE: Above extract from a Wireshark Trace does show a DHCP Offer without a Time Server or Offset.

NOTE: Above extract from a Phone Log does show a DHCP Offer without a Time Server or Offset.

A Time Server can be specified using the Phones Web Interface as shown below using:

UC or SIP Software 3.3.5 or older 

UC Software 4.0.0 or later

Or via a configuration File using the provisioning method.

<time device.set="1" device.sntp.serverName.set="1" device.sntp.serverName="pool.ntp.org" device.sntp.gmtOffset.set="1" device.sntp.gmtOffset="3600" />

Download the attached Manual_NTP.ip and Unzip and Import via the Web Interface Utilities > Import & Export Configuration > Import Configuration

Note: Please be aware that the gmtOffset parameter affects the timezone. 3600 would be GMT +1 ! 

My colleague Jeff Schertz shows => here <= how to change the offset via a DHCP server.

Option 2: Time Server and/or Offset provided via DHCP but are not desired:

If a DHCP Server offer is received and it is not desired to use the offered the Time Server or offset time then the following can be used:

NOTE: Above extract from a Wireshark Trace does show a DHCP Offer with a Time Server and Offset.

<time tcpIpApp.sntp.address.overrideDHCP="1" tcpIpApp.sntp.address="pool.ntp.org" tcpIpApp.sntp.gmtOffset.overrideDHCP="1" tcpIpApp.sntp.gmtOffset="0" />

Download the attached DHCP_override.zip and Unzip and Import via the Web Interface Utilities > Import & Export Configuration > Import Configuration 

Note: Please be aware that the gmtOffset parameter affects the timezone. 0 would be GMT! 

Option 3 verifying the NTP exchange:

Below shows a Polycom phone querying the NTP server and the NTP server replying with the current time

If troubleshooting via Wireshark is not a possibility the phone's log functionality can be used.

Either setting the relevant log level via a configuration file:

<time log.level.change.so="3"/>

 or changing this via the Web Interface:

The Phones log will then show the query of the NTP server:

Verify the log timestamp

0227184211|copy |4|03|Configuration of URL failed

Above shows an example time Stamp once the phone has successfully received an NTP time.

The format usually is MMDDHHMMSS aka the above shows February the 27 and 18:42:11

Before this, the phone can only display the time elapsed since booting the phone. This is especially important for any certificate verification and/or TLS.

No working NTP:

000052.432|sip |4|03|Registration failed User: 1041, Error Code:480 Temporarily not
available

 the above shows 52 seconds since the phone started.

When using Poly Trio or CCX phones in Skype for Business or Teams Base Profile the default NTP server is time.windows.com. This may be blocked in a network setup and therefore failing to sign in to Skype for Business or Microsoft Teams

040304.458|so   |4|00|SNTP: sync failed with all servers, trying again[0]

and then failing for Skype for Business:

040318.862|sip  |4|00|MakeTlsConnection: SSL_connect error 1

More details >here< under the "Lack of NTP Server causing unable to sign in" section

Note: Please be aware that the build-in Log functionality was only added in the UCS 4.0.0 software version. Before that, a provisioning or syslog server is needed to receive the phone's logs!