Why do I get a "timed out" error when I run the hwclock command in Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

Issue

• On some systems if the hwclock command is run the following message is displayed:

    # hwclock --show
    select() to /dev/rtc to wait for clock tick timed out

• Also while syncing the hardware clock with the system clock the same error is seen:

    # hwclock --systohc
    select() to /dev/rtc to wait for clock tick timed out

• Because of the above timeout message the system time changes on every reboot.