My chromebook crashed and I got this message. I have tried using the recovery tool and even tried different usb's. Nada....I tried a whole bunch of stuff off of the reviews section on google but still no dice. I NEED a fix that won't end up costing the same as getting a new chromebook.
as I dont use a chromebook I don't know the exact problem but it sounds like that you hard drive is near dead, so if it like other computers One option could be transfering the data on a new hard drive or buy anew harddrive and installing the OS on it and transfering all the important data on the new one.
Have you tried activating then deactivating Dev mode? The only problem with this is that it will delete all local data but a chrome book I was fixing had a similar issue that I solved by doing that Key combo for dev mode escape + refresh + power then when in recovery control + D then enter twice
Sounds like either your boot sector got corrupted or your hard disk have failed/got a lot of bad sectors. Not sure how to fix this in chrome os, but perhaps making a live usb with knoppix is a good start