Anyone had a faulty Netgear DG834PN?

Hi

A friend of mine has had trouble with poor wireless signals in one
particular room so on my suggestion he ordered a MaxRange Netgear DG834PN as
an upgrade to his 834 router.

Eagerly I set it up for him but no matter what I did it refused to connect!
It didnt recognise there was a ADSL line present.

Checked and rechecked all the settings umpteen times - still no go.

Called Netgear Tech Support who suggested downloading the firmware (even
though its the same version as already in the router) and do a firmware
upgrade.

Still no go.

Boo Hoo.

Just requested an RMA number to get a replacement.

Even though there was no line connection it was still transmitting a signal
so I checked the reception in the difficult room. Although it appeared
marginally stronger it wasnt the massive increase in signal strenrth or
indicated speed I expected. But of course without an active line connection
it was impossible to see how it actually performed.

So I'm curious to know if theres a batch of faulty 834PN's out there?

Thanks.

Ian