Great results from Mindstorms Tech Support

Today I called the Tech Support line for Lego Education.  I spoke to Tim Lankford, one of the tech geniuses they have there.  We talked through the problem, looked in a few places, tried a few things, and finally came to a good conclusion.  No hardware needs to be returned/repaired, no software bug report is needed.
The main point of misbehavior was that the Sound Sensor calibration on the problem NXT brick was messed up.  The minimum and maximum were reversed, and had weird values.  Setting the calibration to default values was the main part of the solution.

Here's what I need to do to get all the bots and computers homogenized:

1. Uninstall the NXT software on all computers and re-install the latest (1.1) software.
2. Download the latest (1.05) firmware to all bricks.
3. Set calibration on the light and sound sensors to default on all bricks.
4. Give each brick a unique name, similar to what's on the outside ID label.

Tim was intrigued by the idea of teaching Robotics for Grandparents!  Maybe he will follow our blog!

Thanks again to Tim for being very patient, knowledgeable, and helpful.