Laptop Will Not Boot Up Anything Else Besides The Factory OS

I have a Gateway laptop p-6831fx running Vista Home Premium. Whenever I try to install an OS upgrade from home premium it upgrades just fine. But when I load it up for the first time it takes me to the system recovery console after it shows the Windows loading bar at the bottom. I have tried with Vista Ultimate and the 7 beta. The only OS it will load correctly is the factory image which is backed up on separate partition of the hdd, which I find very strange. But I am not wanting to use that one because it is only home premium. I know it is not the boot record because it shows the Windows loading bar at the bottom of the starting black screen. If anyone can help me out and let me know why only the factory image will load but any other Windows OS will not. I would really appreciate it?