Asuswrt-Merlin 378.53 cannot access origin/battle.net/steam

Hi All,

I've been using asuswrt-Merlin firmware since using my previous asus rt-n66u.

Quite recently replaced that with the rt-ac68u after reading some issues with the ac-87u.

Immediately after installation at home I updated to firmware ver 376.49. Works straight out as expected.

Skipped a couple version before trying the latest ver 378.53.

After update and all, seems to work. Web browsing looks ok, speedtest seems fine.

Played some steam/battle.net/origin online games and all looks fine.

Then I began to fiddle with AiProtection and set everything to on. Realised my network slowed a bit. I believe the firewall and such function will take a slight hit on bandwidth.

Later decided to off everything on AiProtection. I'm confident my desktop avast should protect my system well. That's when things turn out bad. Basically I can't log on to any online programs except web browsing.

Steam/Battle.Net/Origin keep prompting me unable to login due to no internet connection even though I can access these 3 mention from a web browser.

Unable to update my antivirus virus definition or any update for that matter.

Did another update using the latest firmware and proper reboot and all. Still the same.

Reinstall all my hardware drivers to latest still no avail. I was at my shortest straw and intended to wipe out my pc and reinstall, a major effort indeed.

Then decided to go back to my previous version. And everything works as a charm.

I'm not network savvy but my desktop which use wired connection to the router is the only one affected by the firmware. All other desktop connected wirelessly seems fine.

Anyone else has this problem?

Origins logged in fine for me, did you factory reset the router?

And have you tried another DNS server just to be safe.

Another DNS server I'm not too sure, but all the while since RT-N66U, I always did a factory reset after a firmware upgrade.

Anyway, I'm fine with an "older" firmware at the moment. Will try again the firmware when I really have the time to troubleshoot.

I don't play those online games much, it's played by my son who badgered me to fix the issue.

Nope, not DNS. Why should it be when my previous firmware upgrades, I just set it to connect automatically. Anyway change to a couple of DNS ip addresses. No luck.

My question is, why updating to this firmware , I am experiencing this. Anyway I'm also using the onboard Killer NIC, my board is asrock z97x killer. Now don't even suggest that NIC is the problem because by just reverting back to my previous firmware, without going through, even the factory reset, my problem is solved.