Faulty motherboard (I think)

[leewilson78]

Hi all,

I have a 5 year old iMac 17" wide screen monitor that I am giving away to a local charity.

Basically, I haven't used it for a while, when I try to now, I just get a gray screen, nothing happens. I have spoken to a local Apple repair company, it will cost more than I am will to repair, so I am giving it away to charity.

Now, the are collecting it tomorrow, but I wanted to somehow try and wipe the hard drive clean, the problem is, I can't do it if I can't login, is there any other way to wipe it clean, or even make it unusable. Apparently, the charity are often able to repair such machines, this is fine, but if my computer is being shipped to a 3rd world country, I just didn't want my files being accessed.

Can anyone help?

Thanks

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Is files being accessed in a 1st world country any better?

 

[leewilson78]

Good point, guess I was relating it to location really, not that helps, someone accessing my sensitive data next door is just, if not more dangerous than someone the other side of the world.