Kinda says it all really. Any way I can get it back short of rebooting?

AWOL?  I'm sorry?


Is it like getting reset?  Then it's your Motherboard battery, which gives a bit of electricity to your BIOS chip to get stored, and the BIOS chip includes the time, so when the battery doesn't give power, nothing gets stored, including the time.

Try reading this for howto replacing your motherboard battery: http://www.ehow.com/how_8159_change-battery-computer.html

AWOL = Absent WithOut Leave.
The clock's not getting reset (it's synced to a timeserver anyway), it's just not onscreen.

A bit like that.

so what ur saying is that even after u set it to show again it will disapear when u restart your computer ?

No.
I'm saying it randomly disappeared, and nothing I try can make it appear again.

Then again, I haven't rebooted so far today. It'll probably be fine tomorrow.

I'm just looking for a way to restore the clock without reboot, for suture reference.

Win XP: Go to Start > rightclick on "all programs"..choose properties, it's in systray square on first tab 

If it's already checked click on "OK" and see if it comes back...if not go there again untick > click "OK" ... go back once more...check the box and hit "OK" again.

Tried that - no go.
I have since rebooted, and the clock's back, as expected. I'm just wondering for if it happens again.