It looks like it might be as simple as one of the solar panels not flipping out to expose the radio. Such bad luck. Really goes to show how many things on a mission like this has to go right.
They did actually, the thing was designed to drop on a random angle and bounce around for a while on airbags until it came to a full stop, before said airbags would deflate and it would self-right itself by opening up. Here's an image with it having landed on an uneven surface: http://freespace.virgin.net/michael.jennings1/beagle.jpg
