How can I delete items on my hard drive on a computer that won't even come on? I want to get rid of the computer but want to make sure there's no personal information on it.

If your planning on simply dumping the computer or sending it a recycleing center, I'd suggest you remove the harddrive. You can then make the drive unreadable by placing a strong magnet it and let it sit there for several days or you can drill a few holes through the drive. If your planning to donate the computer you'll have to boot it up and do a diskwipe to clean it.

You will need some way to spin up the drive. The best way I've found is with a USB to IDE or USB to SATA "adapter". They run about $20.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3012908&CatId=3770

This allows you to attach the drive to another computer. Just formatting the drive (do not select "Quick Format") should be enough for most uses. If you are really worried about a determined criminal, there are utilities out there that can perform a multi-pass "DOD7" wipe.

Hi,
Welcome to Fixya Support
I am Michelle, and i will be assisting you regarding the issue
Please perform a debug on the hard disk.
This would wipe off everything from the hard disk
The below link has the steps to do the same
Please note that this debug script was created for dell systems but works on almost all hard drives
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/topic.aspx/la/shared/support/dsn/en/alt_dsn_07302457082c47eda1a8f9619885f51f?c=us&l=en&s=gen