IanM: I don't understand how you can have a different number of setups between machines running the same charting package. I can understand one showing the setup delayed by X seconds as compared to the other, but doesn't the lagging computer show the same time (on its screen) for a trade start as the non-lagger? Is there any type of firewall/virus/malware/spyware software running on the laptop that is not running on the desktop? Are both machines running the same operating system? What charting package? Where does the charting package get its time from? That is, does the data stream come with embedded time or does the charting package add time to the data based on your PC's\laptop's timebase? What type of data stream are you getting - 1000's of symbols or a limited set? How does the charting package obtain its data? Are you logged into a datafeed once with local distribution or twice with two IP streams? If you can access the Futures market (Globex), set up both machines to chart the ES (ESZ9) on the highest resolution timeframe you can. Shut everything else down so you are only charting the ES. ES stops at 16:15 Eastern and resumes at 16:30. Stops again at 17:30 and resumes at 18:00. Monitor the start-up on both machines and see how much lag there is between machines. Since the charting package will have been doing nothing (or a lot less depending on how it filters unwanted symbols) until the data starts flowing this test should provide added info. The 18:00 test will probably start up with a lower data flow than the 16:30 start which may help isolate things a bit further. If you are in the US set D4 to sync against Tick or Tock (US Naval Observatory). If non-US, search for a nearby country's standard. Don't use the Microsoft time sync. Ensure that your PC clock on both machines can synch against D4. Check the Date and Time Properties of Windows (sometimes by clicking on the clock) and be sure that the "Automatically synchronize with Internet time server" is off (Not checked). If you have a cell phone (or GPS with clock) check the time against your PC. Should be the same. Jack
Jack, I've honestly and literally done all of that. Laptop's clock AND charts lags by around 10 seconds, period. The odd thing about this is that the charts show different bars, time is same, but the Desktop chart will show a doji, and the Laptop's chart won't. I'm beginning to think some traders are having difficulty trading due to this exact same problem. Say I get a really nice reversal bar on the Desktop. The Laptop will show a different looking bar. VERY frustrating, and VERY strange. At least it is to me. My charting on both is the exact same, OS is almost exact, but the faster computer is actually an older version of Vista, Laptop has a bit newer version, neither have all the bells and whistles of full blown Vista, and I"ve got all the BS turned off on both. I guess I'll just trade from the Desktop, and sell the Laptop and try another brand. Great excuse for a new one huh? Thanks guys! Ian
Ian, This is going off memory, look it up on google, but I seem to recall that the battery on the Mobo can cause issues related to time. I don't know how you could crack that on laptop though.
Still sounds like it is a clock related issue. If you are using IB data feed, there are no time stamps sent in the feed, so charting software way rely entirely on system clock. This will of course give candles that look different due to the time shift. PC clocks are not very accurate and do drift over time. On my systems (all Linux) I'm set up to poll a time server every 30 mins which then adjusts the system clock thereby keeping reasonably accurate time (say within 100 mSec or so). Find a utility that will do this on Windows. If the clock is still drifting by a few seconds, there is clearly something quite wrong - possibly hardware.
you can use this program called "about time" very old software but still works good. it will auto update time for you at a preset interval
In my opinion this is the best NTP client for synchronizing time on Windows machines: http://www.meinberg.de/english/sw/ntp.htm
have you looked into the bios date time setting of the lap? had an issue where this was off and a bios upgrade did the trick
Ian: Probably just have the same problem on the new machine. I'd reinstall the operating system on the laptop first, but that can be a task if you don't have the correct drivers on-hand when you do so. If you'd answer my questions on what charting software and whose datafeed someone here might recognize the problem. For instance are you an IB customer using their real and paper trading feeds to support your charting software? The feeds are not identical, but they are nearly identical and differ in milliseconds. Because of the way IB assembles the feed you can miss some highs and lows but only in a very active issue. Ten seconds just has to be a computer clock related problem of some type. What you've implied is that if you do the ES opening experiment I suggested, you'll see the opening delayed by 10 seconds. If you shut the charting package down and sync both machines with D4 they should both show the same time if you put the clock on the screen. Since you can have D4 sync the PC\laptop clock every second I just don't see how the machines can drift apart by 10 seconds. Jack
Why not try setting the time on the laptop ahead of the desktop by 10 seconds or so. I doubt it will solve the problem, but who knows.