You're probably not in an area that sends the time update over the air, so you may have to set it manually through the menu.
Here mine came up just like that. although i get wonky program guide info that sometimes lists the current show when that show is actually the next one to begin, or shows the wrong listing.
1997 is an odd year for a CECB box, unless it's very old. it could be faulty or if it is anything like a computer inside (never opened one up to see) it could have the equivilent to a CMOS battery which could be dead or faulty causing the memory to default to the time it was first turned on out of the box. just like our old computers defaulting to Jan, 1 1980 after their battery died.
Some boxes use a solid state system composing of a capacitor that stores the info such as channels already added after scan, so when the power fails or the box is unplugged you don't have to set it back up all over again, so that system could be faulty as well. does it hold other info after being unplugged or does it get erased?