Solved 3 Asus Routers doing the same thing. About to drop ASUS. Help!!!!

[jeffry51ne]

Why do you even need the disney circle, when the router has all of those features either natively or via addons?

Because if I enable any features on my ASUS router it goes into psycho mode.

 

[L&LD]

If you follow my suggestions and the issues continue, I would consider that a hardware defect at that point.

 

[BreakingDad]

Because if I enable any features on my ASUS router it goes into psycho mode.

So what features , when enabled, do you think cause this? are all your devices set to automatic network settings? as in IP address and DNS ? so they are getting this from the router. I'm finding this hard that 3 routers would all do this, suggesting that the issue is client side.

 

[jeffry51ne]

So after endless hours/days/weeks of testing and trials...
My ASUS gets its address dynamically from the modem. I have done zero troubleshooting on the modem side btw.

The router has given out IP Addresses using DHCP and static on the LAN Side.

Right now it's been 13 hours since the last factory reset and all features turned on and working perfectly.

So as far as features. I can safely enable the DNS Filter(Merlin feature only) and URL filtering. But when I turn on AI Protection, Traffic Analyzer or do any blocking then psycho mode will start shortly after.

Yes 3 different routers all do the same behavior.

Possible outside factors: 1. Modem. I dont know how but is it possible the modem could be the culprit? 2. My son. My 14 year old son who tries vehemently to dodge around any restrictions or boundaries works with a very intelligent group of developers from England who always seem to find a way around any defense I put up. The most recent was using VPN's built into Microsoft or Google browsers which render Disney Circle or ASUS Parental Controls obsolete(other than blocking the device from ASUS software).

My son insists there's no way anything he does that causes psycho mode because he cannot develop online when the router goes into psycho mode. I believe him.

 

[L&LD]

It's your son.

They're known to cause psycho mode to any adults around them, at least once during their development.

 

[Torson]

Yes 3 different routers all do the same behavior.

My son insists there's no way anything he does that causes psycho mode because he cannot develop online when the router goes into psycho mode. I believe him.

 

[BreakingDad]

Using DNS Filter and forcing the clients to use opendns or cleanbrowsing with the vpn block could be one way of stopping the vpn usage, or removing admin access from his pc. That or taking his pc out of the loop entirely until you test if it his him causing it. Sounds like it could be him though who knows. Blocking all the VPN services is notoriously difficult to do manually and could cause more problems than it solves.

 

[Torson]

...yes, that all makes sense in the context. The question is if you want to post the systems' log on those 3 devices before they go into pshyco mode? That on its own shouldn't be an issue since the failure is so predictable (as in number of hours.)

My observations of life indicate that any device failure is somewhat easier to handle (and/or correct) than human behaviour.

 

[sfx2000]

Couple of other thoughts I though Spanning Tree Loops only occured when using switches, or too many switches.

There is a switch in each of the routers - so if he has then cross connected...

STP is normally enabled though, but worth looking at.

The Disney Circle thingy - IIRC, it does play with the ARP tables, so maybe it's causing issues here...

 

[Crimliar]

Maybe it's paranoia, but I'd also be fleshing out the client list on the router (cant use DHCP leases because it misses anything manually assigned). When you have the list fleshed out with friendly names, see if there are any additional devices or anything odd such as WiFi clients connected on more than one band at a time (different MAC addresses I know...)

 

[HTBruceM]

I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.

Hmmm... THREE different routers ALL exhibit the exact same behavior, and Asus couldn't find anything wrong with one of them. What are the odds of the exact same hardware failure occurring on all 3 routers? I think astronomical. So it seems like it HAS to be something in your specific environment that is causing your psycho mode. I'm thinking that it sounds as if the router is getting overwhelmed by something, making it unable to perform other duties - including running AI protection, or even handling normal routing duties.

What would overwhelm the router? I think you said that your psycho mode takes a while to manifest itself... Any chance that corresponds to your son's computer usage? Is your son running VPN, custom DNS, hosting Torrents? It's possible that something he's doing conflicts with your router settings. You are using DNS filtering so I'm guessing you're attempting to limit some type of internet content; maybe he's trying to "work around it". You could simply power off his system for a while and re-enable everything in the router and see if the problem returns.

I read that you have some static network addresses assigned. Do you really mean that you've created static addresses in the endpoint devices? If you really did create some hardcoded addresses in your end devices, then your DHCP range in the router needs to be setup to avoid those addresses otherwise conflicts could occur.
Or did you really mean to say that you are using DHCP address reservations?
Either way, what is your use case for having specific IP addresses? Are you also port forwarding? What is this being used for?

 

[BreakingDad]

There is a switch in each of the routers - so if he has then cross connected...

STP is normally enabled though, but worth looking at.

The Disney Circle thingy - IIRC, it does play with the ARP tables, so maybe it's causing issues here...

Understood thanks.

 

[SoCalReviews]

"Psycho mode" like behavior can happen with bad or complex network topography. I had a situation this past year at a business where an old ISP modem with active DHCP had been wrongly connected via Ethernet to the LAN port of an old N66U router. The N66U router already had a connection to a modem into it's WAN port. It essentially had two ISP modems connected to it... one via normal WAN and one via LAN.

I'm not sure who, how or why this had happened but it appears to have been a faulty new modem upgrade by a tech from the ISP during the last year. The old modem was inactivated but powered on and connected to the router LAN port. This was causing random instability with the internet connection... random drops, slowdowns, general "psycho mode" like behavior. I replaced the old N66U with a new AX86U and removed the incorrect and unnecessary Ethernet connection from the old ISP modem and all those "psycho" problems went away.

As it was mentioned before because it's happening to all three Asus routers the odds are that it's not the routers but something else causing the problem. I would recommend simplifying your network topography in order to isolate and identify the main source of the problem.

 

[jeffry51ne]

Using DNS Filter and forcing the clients to use opendns or cleanbrowsing with the vpn block could be one way of stopping the vpn usage, or removing admin access from his pc. That or taking his pc out of the loop entirely until you test if it his him causing it. Sounds like it could be him though who knows. Blocking all the VPN services is notoriously difficult to do manually and could cause more problems than it solves.

I use the DNS Filter with one of the Family filters as the default. Still doesn't stop him installing a free vpn on Chrome or Edge. I have the PC under Microsoft Family control but I do allow him to use Edge.

He does not have admin access but still his developers from England taught him how to install that VPN. He doesn't get far because I only allow certain sites on Microsoft family which does a good job.

Ok latest update on pyscho mode... With the Disney Circle out of the picture and a factory reset afterwards... still no pyscho mode after 24 hours. The only thing that happened was the 2.4 band dropped (I thought psycho mode was coming) but I quickly reconnected to the 5G band successfully. The 2.4 band came back up on its own after a few minutes.

I have no plugged in my AC68U to put it in repeater mode. AiMesh just won't finish. Starts but fails so I have to use repeater mode. Which is fine. I actually like having a separate SSID to choose from.

Still waiting for psycho mode! All features are running.

 

[L&LD]

Try resetting the RT-AC68U to factory defaults, plugging an Ethernet cable from the main router to the WAN port of the 'AC68U and then add it as an AiMesh node. After it has connected, relocate it where you need it.

 

[BreakingDad]

I use the DNS Filter with one of the Family filters as the default. Still doesn't stop him installing a free vpn on Chrome or Edge. I have the PC under Microsoft Family control but I do allow him to use Edge.

He does not have admin access but still his developers from England taught him how to install that VPN. He doesn't get far because I only allow certain sites on Microsoft family which does a good job.

Ok latest update on pyscho mode... With the Disney Circle out of the picture and a factory reset afterwards... still no pyscho mode after 24 hours. The only thing that happened was the 2.4 band dropped (I thought psycho mode was coming) but I quickly reconnected to the 5G band successfully. The 2.4 band came back up on its own after a few minutes.

I have no plugged in my AC68U to put it in repeater mode. AiMesh just won't finish. Starts but fails so I have to use repeater mode. Which is fine. I actually like having a separate SSID to choose from.

Still waiting for psycho mode! All features are running.

If he doesn't have admin on his pc and is installing vpns through addons (extensions) on edge, simply disable addons (extensions) with a group policy https://www.windowscentral.com/how-disable-extensions-microsoft-edge that and uninstall chrome. He would need admin access to reinstall it. Although he will probably hate you for forcing him to use edge.

 

[jeffry51ne]

If he doesn't have admin on his pc and is installing vpns through addons (extensions) on edge, simply disable addons (extensions) with a group policy https://www.windowscentral.com/how-disable-extensions-microsoft-edge that and uninstall chrome. He would need admin access to reinstall it. Although he will probably hate you for forcing him to use edge.

Windows 10 home doesn't have Group Policy editor

 

[jeffry51ne]

Day 3 without the Disney Circle involved and still no psycho mode. Guys this network is as simple as it gets. Was one router and nothing else but now I've plugged in the AC68U in repeater mode and so far so good. Could it be the Disney Circle all this time??? Wait and find out.

 

[HTBruceM]

Could it be the Disney Circle all this time??

Did you notice that Disney Circle Plus has an FAQ site? On that site there is a listing of "compatible" routers. It says you may have to enable "Compatibility Mode" in the Disney device if your router is not on their compatible list. When you turn on "compatibility mode", your devices are going to be limited to 100mb/s, and the Disney Circle device is going to get hot, so make sure it's got adequate ventilation.

You would think that Disney Circle Plus would work the same on any similar Asus router, but maybe not. Your router isn't on their compatible list.

Just saying.

 

[BreakingDad]

Windows 10 home doesn't have Group Policy editor

You can add it to Home

Enable Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) in Windows 10 & 11 Home Edition - MajorGeeks

If you're reading this, then you already know Group Policy Editor does not work in Windows 10 Home Edition. Until now.

www.majorgeeks.com

How to Access the Group Policy Editor in Windows Home

Enable the Local Group Policy Editor in Windows Home 10 and 11 without upgrading to Windows Pro.

www.makeuseof.com

Could it be Disney Circle? - quite likely