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How to break a computer without leaving evidence?

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maynerd

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Hey got any tips on how to make a computer completely inoperable without any trace? I want to make it look like a complete computer malfunction. Actually it's not for me but for a friend.

Thanks!

Maynerd
 
Place a big magnet on the harddrive maybe? How untraceable do you want it?
 
Wario64 said:
update the firmware on your motherboard and turn it off while updating
Click to expand...
Dude... DUDE!!! that happened to meeee!



Only was it a major power outage in a large part of our city. Tried to do the BIOS swap thing but broke off some connecter when trying to get it out of it's socket. (seemed they GLUED the BIOS chip to it's socket :/) Luckily I bought a higher grade MB for a small penny :)
 
update the firmware on your motherboard and turn it off while updating
Click to expand...

The HD could still be scanned.

I figure the only real way would be to completely zero the HDs.

Don't exactly know what you mean by 'break', though.
 
Tain said:
The HD could still be scanned.

I figure the only real way would be to completely zero the HDs.

Don't exactly know what you mean by 'break', though.
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That's a good idea.

1) Zero all the HDs.
2) Overclock the videocard so much that it burns and dies.
3) Flash some wrong firmware on the motherboard or flash and turn it off.

Doing 2 and 3 at the same time could be a problem, unless the motherboard has VGA onboard so you can use or just open the computer, replace the card and use that temporarily to flash the motherboard, then take it back out and put the original card back in.

You can boot an operating system with the cdrom drive (Linux for example) and overclock the videocard that way.
 
Specify "break", because if your "friend" wants to destroy sensitive data or something like that you'd be best off taking the hard drive and dropping it in acid, because there are insane data recovery tricks these days.
 
I think he has some sort of service waranty and he wants to make it so it can't be serviced and they would give him back his money. That's what he wants I don't condone this.
 
maynerd said:
I think he has some sort of service waranty and he wants to make it so it can't be serviced and they would give him back his money. That's what he wants I don't condone this.
Click to expand...

Short of shoving a spike into the system board or one of the components (or a power surge), most computers can be "serviced" back to health.
 
maynerd said:
I think he has some sort of service waranty and he wants to make it so it can't be serviced and they would give him back his money. That's what he wants I don't condone this.
Click to expand...

Lemme see if I got this straight. You don't condone what he's trying to do ... but you're asking for tips on how to do it? Hmm, ok.
 
ManDudeChild said:
Lemme see if I got this straight. You don't condone what he's trying to do ... but you're asking for tips on how to do it? Hmm, ok.
Click to expand...

It's more of a curiosity for me if it can be done. I could tell someone how to kill someone but doesn't mean I think it's ok to kill someone.
 
prod10385_sm.jpg
 
if he wants his money back, erasing the hard drive is pointless.

flashing the BIOS and powering down before completion is the best choice. though if the BIOS has a top-level boot lock on it or something even that can be circumvented (interrupting a BIOS flash on many new manufactured PCs won't zap them like it used to).

otherwise you are left with something electrical. unfortunately where there is an electrical amlfunction there is almost always burn marks and the smell of burnt oxygen.
 
CabbageRed said:
I want to say flick the little mode switch on the power supply while the PC is on. Shouldn't that do some decent damage?
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heh i did that once when my pc was off and then forgot to flick it back again. Turned pc on and power pack exploded about 30cm away from my face. Big white flash flew out the back of it. Scared the crap outta me :lol
 
CabbageRed said:
What about hair-thin cuts into areas largely hidden by heatsink clamps and the like?
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have you ever tried to but a 6layer PCB trace before? nothing hair thin about it unless you are using a hanzo sword :P
 
Tain said:
The HD could still be scanned.

I figure the only real way would be to completely zero the HDs.

Don't exactly know what you mean by 'break', though.
Click to expand...


Yeah, but if you do this it will look like a format and not a computer malfulction.
 
borghe said:
have you ever tried to but a 6layer PCB trace before? nothing hair thin about it unless you are using a hanzo sword :P
Click to expand...

lol. No, I've never had cause to try. Still, there must be a way to affect a small area that will bring down the PC without leaving much of a trace. I wish I had an old mobo laying around. Of course, I really don't have any interest in helping whomever os trying to steal from whatever company but it is still a fun topic. :P
 
They'll never give you your money back. It's a SERVICE contract, not an insurance policy. I don't understand why people say you should turn it off during a BIOS flash -- fry the BIOS and they'll just buy a new motherboard in a worst case scenario.

It's in their best interest just to replace stuff, because the components in a 1-2 year old PC is probably at least 50% cheaper than it was at the time of purchase. Even if you totaled every component in the machine without making it look intentional (probably impossible), they would still replace it with something comparable.
 
safest way to do this is thru the power supply that way everything will seem to be normal when they scan you're hd and what not, and they will chalk it up to a bad circuit or something. Just do as it was said before set the voltage to the wrong setting turn it on and hope you dont get owned. All in all you'll probably just get a new powersupply or computer though heh.
 
Wearing socks, rub your feet into the carpet and then discharge the static on the mobo. That sucker is dead without any clues as to what went wrong.
 
Laptop is probably easier to "total" than a regular PC. I'd still be surprised if you got your money back, rather than a replacement.
 
I'm getting a new OS soon, and I want to wipe all the shit I have on my harddrive completely off. Over the course of a few years every time I formatted my computer I noticed it seems like there's less and less space on the harddrive when it's set back to factory defaults. It used to be something like 57 gigs and now it's 52 after format.

Is there a way to wipe everything out and start COMPLETELY from scratch as though you were using a brand new HD?
 
A LAPTOP? That's easy, since laptops are small.

Go to the top-floor of a really high building and drop the laptop.

Make sure you check if there aren't any people below when you do.
 
border said:
They'll never give you your money back. It's a SERVICE contract, not an insurance policy. I don't understand why people say you should turn it off during a BIOS flash -- fry the BIOS and they'll just buy a new motherboard in a worst case scenario.

It's in their best interest just to replace stuff, because the components in a 1-2 year old PC is probably at least 50% cheaper than it was at the time of purchase. Even if you totaled every component in the machine without making it look intentional (probably impossible), they would still replace it with something comparable.
Click to expand...

I understand what you are saying, I told him that he was a fool. Anyways they might give him store credit rather than fixing it if they can't figure out how to fix it easily or at a reasonable cost.
 
Lemurnator said:
I'm getting a new OS soon, and I want to wipe all the shit I have on my harddrive completely off. Over the course of a few years every time I formatted my computer I noticed it seems like there's less and less space on the harddrive when it's set back to factory defaults. It used to be something like 57 gigs and now it's 52 after format.

Is there a way to wipe everything out and start COMPLETELY from scratch as though you were using a brand new HD?
Click to expand...

Sounds like you aren't actually reformating your computer, but are instead simply re-installing the OS repeatedly. What you need to do is go to your format utilities and choose to completely reformat the HD prior to re-installing the OS (which requires a boot disk). I'd tell you how to do this, but I need to know what version of Windows you are running first.
 
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