I have the same model of laptop and had a similar problem when I tried to streamline the operating system. I accidentally removed the quick launch helper programs, which of course rendered the buttons useless. If something similar is happening to you, you may have some luck reinstalling the programs, which can be found
here on HP's site.
When they're running, the programs will put a few entries in the task manager (QLBCTRL.exe) and the installed programs list (HP Quick Launch Buttons). You can check those to see if they're at least installed and running.
HP has a bit more info on this stuff
here.