Title: [Plugin: Countdown Timer] Incorrectly counts from Dec 31st, 1969
Last modified: August 20, 2016

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# [Plugin: Countdown Timer] Incorrectly counts from Dec 31st, 1969

 *  Resolved [Frank](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fwusquare2com/)
 * (@fwusquare2com)
 * [14 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-countdown-timer-incorrectly-counts-from-dec-31st-1969/)
 * Hi, I installed Countdown Timer on a school website I maintain. They wanted a
   countdown to a school event happening on October 9, 2011 to appear on the event
   page. I used:
 * `[fergcorp_cdt_single date="October 9, 2011"]`
 * The issue is that instead of counting down to the desired date, the timer appears
   to be counting away from Dec 31st, 1969 5:00 pm for some reason. No matter how
   I try writing the desired date (10/09/11; 2011-10-09; or Oct 9, 2011), the timer
   is still off. Would this have something to do with the host provider? I see the
   date correctly in WordPress > Settings > General.
 * Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 * Thanks,
    Frank
 * [http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/countdown-timer/](http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/countdown-timer/)

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

 *  Plugin Author [fergbrain](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fergbrain/)
 * (@fergbrain)
 * [14 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-countdown-timer-incorrectly-counts-from-dec-31st-1969/#post-2294316)
 * Usually when an event comes up as Dec 31st, 1969 or something around that time,
   it means that the information was not parsed correctly. Countdown Timer uses 
   Unix time to keep track of events to count down to and if a variable (such as“
   October 9, 2011”) can’t be parsed correctly it ends up returning “0” (instead
   of something closer to 1320796800). “0” is the Unix Epoch and corresponds to 
   January 1st, 1970 UCT ([https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Unix_time](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Unix_time)).
   Adjusting for timezones gets you back to Dec 31st, 1969.
 * Have you tried “9 October 2011”?

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

The topic ‘[Plugin: Countdown Timer] Incorrectly counts from Dec 31st, 1969’ is 
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 * 1 reply
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [fergbrain](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fergbrain/)
 * Last activity: [14 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-countdown-timer-incorrectly-counts-from-dec-31st-1969/#post-2294316)
 * Status: resolved