Yes, Mike... must be nothing good on TV...
The comment I see about the config problem seems to indicate a registry corruption situation, as you seem to suspect. The problem is, if you have booted successfully since the problems started, the good copy is gone. You could try using the F8 key and select the last known good configuration, which will replace the Registry with its backup.
A Chkdsk is still recommended.
You said you tried a factory restore. Why was that necessary, and can you try it again, or has the partition been overwritten? There are some systems, that have a self-protection type of scheme which might interfere with new installs. I have never had a system with such a thing, but something to keep in mind.
If it was me and I was unable to get it working, I might get a new hard drive and try installing to it to test. You do not have to enter any keys if you don't intend on activating the install.
And I like to use the bcdboot C:\Windows command to replace the boot store, assuming C: is your Windows partition. It can also be run by just opening an Administrative command prompt while in Windows 7.