Corrupt disk(?): Recovery HD says to reinstall; reinstall says to use Recovery HD.

[robodude666]

Hey guys,

The day before ML came out my 2008 iMac died on me . When I tried to boot, I got a grey screen or just the Apple logo after the startup chime. I went into Lion's Recovery HD to do a Repair Disk, but repair disk said the disk could not be repaired and I had to reinstall OS X. I erased the drive, and reinstalled OS X...

I'm able to boot into OS X once every four or five attempts. When I am able to boot into OS X the system hangs once every minute or so for 30-40 seconds. Everything freezes, and 30 seconds later a ton of things happen at once.

When I boot in verbose mode (cmd+v) it says my drive is corrupt and fsck will run on next boot up. On next bootup, fsck is runs and it says that my disk cannot be repaired and I should go into Recovery HD.

So...

1) Recovery HD's Disk Repair says reinstall OS X.
2) Reinstalling OS X says to use Recovery HD.
3) Go to #1

? Is my iMac's Hard Drive totally dead then?

When I boot into my Bootcamp Windows 7 partition I either get a startup repair wizard or windows hangs on the "starting windows" screen.

Seeing as my iMac is 4 years old, I'm willing to upgrade.. I really want the mid-2011 27" iMac, but I don't want to buy one as Apple may be releasing new iMacs in October or March. I'm thinking about buying a Mid-2011 Mac Mini until Apple releases a new iMac.

Any help would be appreciated. Because I know it will come up:

- I'm posting this from my girlfriend's computer.
- My iMac is well out of warranty.

Thanks,
-robodude666

 

[JediMeister]

If there's anything else to try before just replacing the drive or the computer entirely, it would be to create a recovery flash drive using the Recovery Disk Assistant and then repartition the drive. If the repartition fails, replacing the drive or the computer is the way to go. If the repartition is successful, do a fresh Lion install and see whether you continue to have startup issues.

 

[robodude666]

JediMeister,

This is where we run into issues...

I'm unable to boot into OS X or the Recovery HD now. Both result in grey screens. Holding option at bootup brings up a mouse cursor, but no boot options. I've tried rebooting this morning about 12 times and no dice.

Since the iMac is well out of warranty, replacing the hard drive is something that I can do. Though honestly, I'd rather get a whole new (faster) Mac -- which I can't comfortably afford yet.

Why couldn't it have died in like 2-3 months? >_>

-robodude666