Hard drive is corrupt, no recovery mode.

It also suggests trying to boot into safe mode. Have you tried that?

Just reread your initial post and saw you tried.

What Mac system and what year is it? What OS came originally on the system? If it was shipped before Lion you will need the DVDs that came with the system to get thsi resolved. If you do not have those for some reason you can order a replacment set from Apple.

Hi ...

You are holding down the Command + R keys to try to boot in OS X Recovery??

I can't take it in either, my warranty is up

You can still get advice in person from an "Apple Genius". Make an appointment online and have someone look at your computer. No cost for the consultation.

Three dead drives in six months is ridiculous. There could be something going on that should be thoroughly checked out. My local Apple genius bar (Toronto) has access to poweful diagnostic tools and the last time I had a problem I could not solve myself - my daughter's Macbook - the diagnostics took all of three minutes, and cost nothing.

Ok.. try here > Managing a prohibitory sign at OS X bootup | MacFixIt - CNET Reviews

When you startup your Mac do you hear the startup chimes?

I suspect that either there is an underyling issue that Apple has been overlooking over the past three six months. Either way, take it in and have them run a their diagnostics test on it. The drive is covered for 90 days, by the way, when Apple replaces it. So, if this drive was replaced within the last three months and Apple determines physical failure, your 4th (don't think I've ever said your 4th replacement drive) will be covered by Apple.

Unless you have a tendency to drop your machine once a week, it is unlikely a case of misusing the HDD repeatedly. Third party software and user modifications could repeatedly cause logical failure of the volume, but not repeated physical failure of the disk.

DO take it in. If you end up being charged, explain to them this is your 4th drive in 6 months. Ask to speak to the manager. Apple's terms and conditions are not statutes. The manager can issue you a free replacement at his own discretion.

As for...

"I'm a broke college student working unpaid internships. :/"

Right there with you, except I'm a broke post-grad currently sitting around responding to Apple support forums.

Best of luck.

One last thing to try.

Power off the system now power it on and hold down the option key and keep it down until the screen appears, anything?

This will show all bootable partitions so if the recovery partition is there and you just wern/'t getting to it for some reason with the R key this might show it.

If this still fails you will need the DVDs assumoing the system didn;t ship with Lion or Mountain Lion.

regards

Message was edited by: Frank Caggiano

Have you seen this advice from http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718?

OS X Internet Recovery

If you happen to encounter a situation in which you cannot start from the Recovery System, such as your hard drive stopped responding or you installed a new hard drive without OS X installed, new Mac models introduced after public availability of OS X Lion or OS X Mountain Lion, automatically use the OS X Internet Recovery feature if the Recovery System (Command-R method above) doesn't work. OS X Internet Recovery lets you start your Mac directly from Apple's Servers. The system runs a quick test of your memory and hard drive to ensure there are no hardware issues.