RT-AC87U - network goes down every 4-6 hours

[logikol]

Hi all, new to the forums. I'm having an issue with my network...

Background:
Firstly, I have three RT-AC87U's and one RT-N56U. Bought them all on December 19, 2014.

My internet is bridged from the modem onto on RT-AC87U which acts as the DHCP server and routes (wired) the signal to the remaining RT-AC87U routers (which are on AP mode) and to the RT-N56U (which is also in AP mode). Routers are far apart, have the same SSID's but are on different channels to avoid cross talk. I also have a wired connection from the DHCP RT-AC87U to a Cisco Small Business SmartSwitch which leads into a patch panel and then heads to wall jacks around the house (they never get used). All of my routers are upgraded to the latest firmware.

With respect to the devices, I have an iMac, HP Printer, MacBook Pro, two smart TV's, two mobile devices (iphone and blackberry), an iPad, AirPort TimeMachine, and a windows laptop. All devices are wireless.

The routers, switch, printer, and iMac have reserved IP addresses. DHCP IP assignment range starts outside these manually assigned IP addresses.

Crux of my Problem:
Every 4-6 hours my internet goes down and this is what appears in the system logs:

kernel: br0: received packet on vlan1 with own address as source address
kernel: br0: received packet on vlan1 with own address as source address
kernel: br0: received packet on vlan1 with own address as source address
kernel: br0: received packet on vlan1 with own address as source address
kernel: br0: received packet on vlan1 with own address as source address
kernel: br0: received packet on vlan1 with own address as source address
kernel: br0: received packet on vlan1 with own address as source address
kernel: br0: received packet on vlan1 with own address as source address
kernel: br0: received packet on vlan1 with own address as source address
kernel: br0: received packet on vlan1 with own address as source address
kernel: br0: received packet on vlan1 with own address as source address

What I've tried:
When this happens, I seem to have "strong" wireless signal but I cannot access the internet or even my own network (i.e., routers). Pinging my router also fails. Pinging 127.0.0.0 works, however.

I have searched tech forums and I have tried every suggestion that I have come across:
- factory resets and upgrading to the latest firmware again
- disconnecting and using one router at a time to isolate the issue (no luck)
- checking for switch loops
- having the APs on different channels
- creating different SSIDs for the 2.4 and 5 ghz bands
- downgrading the NAT acceleration to 1 instead of 2
- etc...

it appears that I am not the only one with this error:
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/i...maylyns-review]-asus-rt-ac87u-4781419-73.html

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx...U&id=20141006174942068&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-RT-AC87U...?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2294337

What has worked:
Manually rebooting the DHCP router...this is very annoying

Any thoughts?
I have spent a small fortune thinking that this was a great product but I have had nothing but trouble with it...

Thanks in advance for your help

UPDATE:
I've just switched the (AP) RT-N56U and the (DHCP) RT-AC87U. Their roles are now switched...let's see if this corrects the issue...if so, I have wasteful/expensive APs.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Interesting i have been considering buying the 87U but after this thread and many others i have read i am reconsidering.

 

[logikol]

Interesting i have been considering buying the 87U but after this thread and many others i have read i am reconsidering.

I would stay away...at least for now...seems that it is a software/firmware issue...

I've been having this problem since December 19.

 

[System Error Message]

The problem looks like a network loop or 2 devices/interfaces or such having the same address.

 

[logikol]

The problem looks like a network loop or 2 devices/interfaces or such having the same address.

Thanks, this is what others have stated (as per reading other posts).

Any idea how I can pin point which devices would be the culprit with the same IP address?

 

[ehaesen]

I've been having this problem too since I bought the routers, almost the same configuration you describe. It's a software issue and Asus says on another forum that they are working on it, they call it vlan loop:
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/90967517-post1086.html

That posting is almost one month old now. However, I have read on that same site that there is a beta out that seems to solve it. I'm not going to try a beta but I hope it is solved soon.

For the moment I've put all my RT-AC87u routers in router mode and created separate segments (and different SSIDs). This way the network is stable, but the solution is not convenient.

 

[SLK350]

Got the same problem. Turning off "NAT acceleration" fixed it.