Ativa keyboard-gateway laptop--vista

Hello,
We have a year old Gateway laptop that is running Vista. I input a lot of numbers in excel and picked up a cheap Ativa usb keyboard to make typing easier. It works no problem, but now the laptop's keyboard no longer types the proper characters, whether the ativa keyboard is plugged in to a port or not. For example:

this sentence typed on ativa keyboard in usb port:
"Hmm. Not sure what stinks stinkier, Gateway or Vista?"
Now, on the Gateway sans Ativa keyboard
"H00. N6t s4re what st5n2s st5n25er, Gateway 6r V5sta+"

Sad thing is, this happened once before. We ended up sending the laptop to Gateway for 2 weeks under warranty because in addition to the keyboard problem, the computer could suddenly no longer see its cd drives, etc. They assured us all problems were fixed, but I was still unwilling to use the Ativa keyboard again just in case. Last week to my horror I saw my husband using the keyboard--not for an extended use, it turns out--and when I asked him if the laptop keyboard was okay he said it was fine. Tonight, my frustration typing on the laptop won out and I plugged in the Ativa keyboard, and Voila! (V653a!/ I seem to have killed our laptop keyboard again. Please help, and tell me I don't have to send my laptop away again!!!!

Thank you.
PS--Touchpad works fine regardless.