Have you tried editing (or creating) an /etc/ntp.conf file?

contents of that file should look something like this:

Code:

server time.someserver.com minpoll 12 maxpoll 17

There are of course lots of things you can specify in that file, but the string above should work if it's a valid time server.

For more info, Google ntp.conf

Also, ntpdate sets the date under two conditions. Greater than 5 seconds, or less than 5 seconds. What it does in either case is spelled out in the man page for ntpdate.
The man page also seems to imply you can specify a time server on the command line as an option only if ntpdate can find a reference to "a" time server that ntpd uses in netinfo.
Seems sorta silly...

Anyway, use the ntp.conf file and ntpd for most time syncing. It works pretty well.