Harddrive problem. Cannot allocate memory. MacBook Pro.

[Cami25]

Hi! So, like the title says I'm having a problem with my harddrive and was hoping someone could give me a hand. My laptop broke down this week and after googling for days I still haven't been able to fix it so I thought I'd ask if anyone here can help. I linked pictures of the problem (I'm on my iPhone right now) but I'll give some background info.

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It's an early 2011 13-inch MacBook Pro with a core i7 processor and 4gb of ram.

Anyway, so my laptop hadn't been working well. I think something was up with the ram, because it would turn off and give me a beep every five seconds but most of the time I was able to fix it by either restarting in reboot mode or taking out the ram and putting it back in (Can't buy a new one just yet). I think this ended up affecting the harddrive somehow and when I tried to turn it on it gave me an error message that wasn't just related to the ram this time around.
I needed to write an essay so I decided I'd just use the OS DVD and wipe the drive, which I did. And it started working again although pretty slowly. at one point it froze though and just stopped working all over again but this time around I can't even run the DVD anymore, or install a new OS via the Internet because I get an error message; when I try to install the OS with the DVD it just says it can't do it and via the Internet it doesn't find the hard drive so I can't even begin the installation (I'm guessing it's cuz it's unformatted?)

In terms of the general problem, the error message I kept getting first when using disk utility, said there was a problem with the partitions map and after that it changed to the system not being able to unmount the drive. I couldn't even force it to unmount through disk utility, but eventually I made it happen and unfortunately now I have this new problem. I can't erase the drive (to try and format it through disk utility) or create a new partition, nor can I install an OS.

Obviously I know I'm gonna have to invest in some hardware but I just wanna know if there's any way to salvage this harddrive (I bought it last year) and get this laptop going cuz I really need it for college . Thanks!

 

[pm-r]

At this point I'd say that MBPro is FUBAR and you'll need extra resources to get it running and working again.

I'd suggest you get it to an Authorized Apple dealer/repair place and let them do the fixes and install.

I gather you don't have a backup, or preferably a bootable backup you could use??? If not, I'd suggest such for the next time.

 

[ferrarr]

Can you start up from the optical drive with the disc inserted? Can you get to Disk Utility? You need to make the partition scheme GUID, if you can. You will also need to make sure you go to the Partition Tab and select "1 partition" from the drop down to be sure it consolidates the drive into a single partition. It should not matter which way these are done, but you want to do both procedures.

This may help explain better, http://pondini.org/OSX/DU.html

 

[Cami25]

Can you start up from the optical drive with the disc inserted? Can you get to Disk Utility? You need to make the partition scheme GUID, if you can. You will also need to make sure you go to the Partition Tab and select "1 partition" from the drop down to be sure it consolidates the drive into a single partition. It should not matter which way these are done, but you want to do both procedures.

This may help explain better, http://pondini.org/OSX/DU.html

Hi! Thank you for your reply. I did try that before and gave it another go just now to confirm and the error I get is "POSIX reports: the operation couldn't be completed. Cannot allocate memory." Do you know if there's anything else I could do? Thanks

 

[pm-r]

As you previously pulled the RAM, do so again and then reinsert it making sure its fully seated. It can take quite a bit of force to the point you might think you'll break it.

Anyway try again and then try another boot from the Install disk.
Just maybe…