NTP errors with SLES10 SP2

[CHENK1]

I did a "Patch CD update" on a SLES10 SP1 64bit box , upgraded the kernel to kernel-smp-2.6.16.60-0.23, and rebooted, on May 24. Since then, a kernel error message shows up in the /var/log/ntp file every hour:

24 May 14:57:55 ntpd[3075]: ntpd exiting on signal 15
24 May 15:02:09 ntpd[3070]: synchronized to LOCAL(0), stratum 10
24 May 15:02:09 ntpd[3070]: kernel time sync status change 0001
24 May 15:02:10 ntpd[3070]: synchronized to 192.5.41.209, stratum 1
24 May 16:16:08 ntpd[3070]: ntpd exiting on signal 15
24 May 16:16:11 ntpd[5521]: Listening on interface #6 eth0, fe80::213:72ff:fe87:b044#123 Enabled
24 May 16:19:22 ntpd[5521]: synchronized to 192.5.41.209, stratum 1
24 May 16:19:22 ntpd[5521]: kernel time sync status change 0001
24 May 18:03:30 ntpd[5521]: kernel time sync error 0001
24 May 18:58:58 ntpd[5521]: kernel time sync error 0001
24 May 19:24:36 ntpd[5521]: kernel time sync error 0001
24 May 19:58:45 ntpd[5521]: kernel time sync error 0001
24 May 21:07:05 ntpd[5521]: kernel time sync error 0001
24 May 22:32:28 ntpd[5521]: kernel time sync error 0001
....
27 May 05:27:57 ntpd[5521]: kernel time sync error 0001
27 May 06:36:11 ntpd[5521]: kernel time sync error 0001
27 May 07:44:29 ntpd[5521]: kernel time sync error 0001
27 May 08:18:38 ntpd[5521]: kernel time sync error 0001
27 May 08:52:49 ntpd[5521]: kernel time sync error 0001

On the same day, I did a fresh install of SLES10 SP2 64 bit on another box, upgraded the kernel, and did "cd /var/lib/ntp/drift/; touch ntp.drift ntp.drift.TEMP; chown ntp ntp.drift ntp.drift.TEMP". This box has lots of error messages in /var/log/ntp also:

24 May 16:46:47 ntpd[2851]: synchronized to LOCAL(0), stratum 10
24 May 16:46:47 ntpd[2851]: kernel time sync status change 0001
24 May 16:46:50 ntpd[2851]: synchronized to 192.5.41.209, stratum 1
24 May 17:43:32 ntpd[2851]: can't open /var/lib/ntp/drift/ntp.drift.TEMP: Permission denied
24 May 18:43:32 ntpd[2851]: can't open /var/lib/ntp/drift/ntp.drift.TEMP: Permission denied
24 May 19:43:32 ntpd[2851]: can't open /var/lib/ntp/drift/ntp.drift.TEMP: Permission denied
24 May 19:44:37 ntpd[2851]: kernel time sync error 0001
24 May 20:27:18 ntpd[2851]: kernel time sync error 0001
24 May 20:43:32 ntpd[2851]: can't open /var/lib/ntp/drift/ntp.drift.TEMP: Permission denied
24 May 21:18:37 ntpd[2851]: kernel time sync error 0001
24 May 21:43:32 ntpd[2851]: can't open /var/lib/ntp/drift/ntp.drift.TEMP: Permission denied
24 May 22:09:51 ntpd[2851]: kernel time sync error 0001
24 May 22:43:32 ntpd[2851]: can't open /var/lib/ntp/drift/ntp.drift.TEMP: Permission denied
24 May 23:01:00 ntpd[2851]: kernel time sync error 0001
....
27 May 05:05:41 ntpd[2851]: kernel time sync error 0001
27 May 05:39:47 ntpd[2851]: kernel time sync error 0001
27 May 06:13:55 ntpd[2851]: kernel time sync error 0001
27 May 06:43:32 ntpd[2851]: can't open /var/lib/ntp/drift/ntp.drift.TEMP: Permission denied
27 May 07:22:17 ntpd[2851]: kernel time sync error 0001
27 May 07:43:32 ntpd[2851]: can't open /var/lib/ntp/drift/ntp.drift.TEMP: Permission denied
27 May 08:13:28 ntpd[2851]: kernel time sync error 0001
27 May 08:43:32 ntpd[2851]: can't open /var/lib/ntp/drift/ntp.drift.TEMP: Permission denied


(the trick - "cd /var/lib/ntp/drift/; touch ntp.drift ntp.drift.TEMP; chown ntp ntp.drift ntp.drift.TEMP" - didn't work).

On 32 bit machines, I get the same error(s) for both situations (fresh install, upgrade from SP1).

Does anyone experience this? Any suggestions/workarounds?

Thank you!

Kun