Question : How to erase hard drive before selling defective computer?

Few years ago I purchased brand new Toshiba laptop from Best Buy.  It has one of Intel latest processors and Windows Vista Operating System.  

After little over one year of use, the computer doesn't boot.  It doesn't even boot with the recovery disk.

Before I sell it, I want to erase the hard drive.  Is there a way to do that?

Answer : How to erase hard drive before selling defective computer?

Download the Ultimate Boot CD (www.ultimatebootcd.com) from here: http://pub.windowsbase.de/ubcd/ubcd502.iso
Burn the iso file to a blank CD with ImgBurn (www.imgburn.com) selecting 'Write image to disk'.
Then boot the laptop off it.
In the boot menu,  HDD > Disk Wiping Tools
Select any of the wiping tools offered. I recommend DBAN (Duke's boot and nuke). Done.