I had the same problem, and figured out an easy fix:
The Gateway Recovery option listed above may not be necessary for you. First of all, look for the "LManager.exe" program in > Computer > OS (
C:) > Program Files (x86) > Launch Manager. If you have this, double click it to run it. Now try the capacitive keys... and the programmable key, etc. They should work. If they do, then you want this to run each time you start Windows 7. So:
Go to the Windows button, and in the "search programs and files" box type "msconfig". Launch "msconfig.exe". When msconfig comes up, click on the "Startup" tab. You should see "Launch Manager" on the list... unchecked. My guess is that the Windows 7 install disables this. At any rate, check the box... and that way, everytime you restart your computer, launch manager will be there and you will see your desktop icons, and have your "P" capacitive key back.
BUT: If you look in Computer > OS (
C:) > Program Files (x86) and there is NO Launch Manager, then you must download and install it. You can find it on the gateway site:
http/support.gateway.com/support/drivers/ Just make sure you search for and download the proper version for your laptop... for my NV52 Gateway, running 64 bit Windows 7, it is called "LaunchManager_Dritek_v.3.0.03_7a.zip". But yours may be different. Just put the model of your laptop in the search box, and a whole list of drivers, including this one, will be available. Proto57
PS: I had downloaded it, and went to install it... and then thought to cancel and check to see if I had it on my drive already... and so, solved the problem and wrote this. I'll bet most people still have it on their drive, and it is just disabled in startup. Also, I suspect that this is what is happening in the previous fix on this forum, with the Gateway Recovery and so on... it is just doing what you can manually do, by simply enabling it in msconfig, or reinstalling it with a download. Best of luck... Proto57