I remember having this happen to me some time back. I still don't know why, but I booted into SafeMode and was able to do the System Restore. You might give that a try and see if it works for you.

Here's a link to a microsoft page ... Troubleshooting steps for issues when you try to use the System Restore tool in Windows XP Here is a link that might be useful: Troubles, Restore n Windows XP

As Mikie notes it seems you CMOS battery is dead, they are quite cheap and very easy to install. Until you are able to buy one you could rub both sides on your shirt to clean the built up crud off. If you look on the motherboard the battery is close to the size of a quarter, REMOVE the power cord before touching things.

It's very nice to share the kind comments, but there are many situations when there are better information sources to turn to than this forum. Which is what I said in the other recent post concerning the ipad setup question. We're all just fellow users here.