My laptop has a really strange problem.

If I sit in my kitchen in my house, I can move it around as much as I like, have it plugged in or running off battery, be on the internet, playing music, anything and it works perfectly.
When I take it to my bedroom - only about 5-10 metres away, it shuts down randomly every 5-15 minutes, even if I just leave it on my desk and don't touch it.
If I take it into uni with me I can't even get it to start up, it shuts down before it even reaches the desktop page.

I have tried everything I can to troubleshoot this, have tried it plugged in or using battery, so I don't think its anything to do with different power sockets, and have left it to rest for days in my bedroom before trying again, but it still shuts down so I don't think its because its been moved about too much. Its been going on for a month or so now and never once shut down when i'm in the kitchen no matter what i do to it but cannot get it to work anywhere else. I don't think its a temperature problem because it doesn't seem to have any bearing on how long the computer has been switched on for (thus I don't think its overheating), and the kitchen (where it works) is probably the warmest place I use it: my bedroom is pretty cold. But then its quite warm in uni where it doesn't work at all so I don't think it is that it is too cold for it to work (if thats even possible?) I've had it 2 1/2 years so I know its quite old, but it works so perfectly and speedily when I'm in the right room that it seems silly to get rid of it, and its really bugging me why when i take it just a few steps away it won't work any more.

Anyone else experienced similar problems? I literally cannot think of any explanation for this!

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you very much!
Jennifer.

My wild guess would be that some form of EMP is doing this. Might be some electrical motor, light or transmitter.

Start with looking at the event viewer logs. They might show the issue. Might have to setup and learn how to view "dump logs".

Might be a static electricity issue too. There are ways to minimize that. The easy solution would be a humidifier.

Not sure how to tell a electromagnetic pulse without complex diag equip.

A neighbor with a 50megawatt plasma rifle?

I read it wrong and answer it wrong too. So get off my case you peanut.

You can find EMP's with an osciloscope! Still expensive, if you know someone you can borrow from! An osciloscope wave will oscilate a little without using the osciloscope if an EMP field is present.

Do you have any high frequency device on your room? Such as a BIG CRT TV or something?
Or maybe a very old 14" Monitor?

I friend of mine had similar problems when he turned on is Plasma Ball near the computer!

I'm just a shadow of my former self!

Or... Now this is a wild, wild guess.
Does the computer works outside your house? House of a friend? Anywhere?
I was thinking maybe the computer is in fact damaged and some form of EMP in the kitchen makes it work. I've seen similar things.

E.G. I have a motherboard+PSU that doesn't work connected to an UPS. Because the UPS filters electrical spikes. When connected to the outlet this particular computer works fine because it uses the electrical spikes to work. This because the PSU and/or motherboard have damaged capacitors! I say PSU and MOBO because I havn't find the time to properly test it. And its no the UPS, cause it works fine with other computers.

Just a guess for your case!

I'm just a shadow of my former self!

how do you know it isnot overheating and are you sure that it is shutting down?

are the lights off?
is there a system monitor in the bios that will tell you if it may be overheating?
i am assuming that this is a laptop due to you are moving it around

check the simple things first
EMP would be the last thing i would check
unless you can see a change while it is on when you walk around the house
sort of like when you get close to a running fan or somthing
make sure it is not the video or the the tft display

"I don't think its a temperature problem because it doesn't seem to have any bearing on how long the computer has been switched on for (thus I don't think its overheating), and the kitchen (where it works) is probably the warmest place I use it: my bedroom is pretty cold."

I read it wrong and answer it wrong too. So get off my case you peanut.