Windows Vista 32 bit chkdsk errors

My HP Pavilion a1740n with Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit started failing almost 2 weeks ago. I have 2MB RAM and a 320 GB HD. I cannot logon. Selecting any account either does nothing or all I get is a rotating green and white horizontal bar at the bottom of my screen which never goes away. I have tried Startup Repair and have selected several different restore points so far. None have worked. I have started in Safe mode and was able to logon to my admin account. I have attempted to run chkdsk but it is not completing. It gets to about 18% and goes no further. I have been running as follows: chkdsk /f /r c:. As far as I can tell all personal data files seem to be intact (I have 4 user accounts). I have had best success running Startup Repair and and opening the CMD prompt window. I have Advanced System Care (ACS) installed to check my registry settings and I have had great success with ACS for about 18 months. After reading some bad reviews about Avast Free Antivirus I have uninstalled Avast from my system. I am uncertain what to try at this point. Do I just assume the HD is going bad and wait until I an afford to replace it? I have an old laptop that is adequate for the time being. My other problem is my system from HP did not come with the software disks for Vista. I attempted to create a restore disk several years ago, but I don't have much faith they will work even if I can find them after moving six times since it was created. I am tempted to use it as a boat anchor instead of putting any more money into it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Not good, sounds like the hard drive is ready to fail.
Right now, if you can, make an image of your hard drive with Macrium Reflect. If you need a new drive you can reinstall with the image.
Back up all your stuff for sure.
Dont worry, worse comes to worse, we can get you an ISO to burn and install disc. You do need at product key number.

The Macrium Reflect software sounds good. I do have a question about the ISO to burn and install disc you mention. I'm not really sure what you were referring to. Thanks in advance for your help.

The ISO, which I have, is a means to burn a CD, the CD is an install CD which allows you to reinstall Vista on your computer, all you need is a Product Key number, which is probably on your computer.
If you use Macrium, you will not need the ISO.