GT-AX6000 - cant connect to Microsoft services

[Watson306]

Hi Guys,
I have an issue with office365 where I cant get to my work email and teams on my work laptop (initial issue), but I have tried on my personal laptop and its the same outcome.
I have tried resetting the router and starting again - no change.
So I have also cloned mac address of another device to get another public IP - just in case it was blacklisted - still no change.
My internet connection is strong - over 900Mbps down and 450Mbps up.
I honestly dont know where to go with this - I have asked ISP if they block anything and they have said no.

Thanks in advance.

 

[bennor]

It would likely help others if you provide a bit more information about your setup.
What firmware is the router running?
How are the laptops connected to the router? (WiFi or Ethernet, if WiFi are you using Guest Network?)
What features or options do you have enabled on the router? (features like AiProtection and QoS)
If running Asus-Merlin firmware, are you running any add-on scripts?
Are you using VPN either server or client on the router?
Are you using any sort of DNS filtering or ad-blocking? (Pi-Hole, Diversion, Skynet, etc)
Does the work and personal laptop access Office 365 (email and Teams) from outside your local network/router? (i.e. from another location)
What troubleshooting steps have you tried? (router reboot, ISP equipment reboot, router reset, tried using different DNS servers, etc)

 

[Watson306]

It would likely help others if you provide a bit more information about your setup.
What firmware is the router running?
How are the laptops connected to the router? (WiFi or Ethernet, if WiFi are you using Guest Network?)
What features or options do you have enabled on the router? (features like AiProtection and QoS)
If running Asus-Merlin firmware, are you running any add-on scripts?
Are you using VPN either server or client on the router?
Are you using any sort of DNS filtering or ad-blocking? (Pi-Hole, Diversion, Skynet, etc)
Does the work and personal laptop access Office 365 (email and Teams) from outside your local network/router? (i.e. from another location)
What troubleshooting steps have you tried? (router reboot, ISP equipment reboot, router reset, tried using different DNS servers, etc)

Apologies, as you can tell I am a bit perplexed and so this felt like my last option.

The firmware is Merlin 3004.388.6_2_rog, and all laptops are connected via WiFi, but I have tried ethernet aswell.
I have AIProtection enabled, but I have disabled it, and tried it - and it is the same.
I hadnt tried it with QoS disabled, but I just diabled it and tried it again and it appeared like it might connect and then dropped - not sure if its relevent or not.
I'm not running any scripts.
I'm not using any VPN on the router, and the personal laptop has no VPN. The company supplied laptop has cisco anyconnect, and had just been rolled out with zscaler, but it appears that the way it is setup the outlook services go out locally rather than via the anyconnect when enabled or the zscaler when enabled.
I have tried them both using a MiFi router I have and they connect fine (teams, outlook etc).
I have tried a number of things - power cycled router and modem, router reset (although that was about 2 weeks ago), I have tried a number of dns servers, but currently using google in the WAN settings, and the LAN one's are blank. I have cloned another mac address to see if the public IP address of the router was blacklisted, and I have contacted the ISP to see if anything is being blocked.

 

[L&LD]

Flash the non-rog firmware.

Perform a full reset.

Do not import any old backup config files.

Do not insert any USB drive that you have previously used for amtm/scripts.

Do not toggle settings on/off to see what they do. (Toggling settings is not the same as leaving them at their default 'off' positions).

At this point, perform a minimal and manual configuration to secure the router and connect to your ISP.

Without playing with any other settings, test for your issue again.

If the issue is fixed (after testing for a few hours/days), proceed slowly when making any changes to the router's configuration.

If the issue isn't fixed, but everything else works, it's not the router. Time to look elsewhere.

 

[dave14305]

What specifically does it look like when you “can’t connect”? DNS issue? Connection hangs? Connection times out?

Can you reach the web portal?

Sign in to your account

portal.office.com

 

[Ripshod]

zscaler

There's that word again. Another zscaler fail!

Zscaler Client Connector Errors | Zscaler

Information on the error messages that Zscaler Client Connector might display while it is in use.

help.zscaler.com

 

[glens]

What the heck is "zero trust" supposed to mean apart from the inherent (negative) connotation of that combination of words, and how are they selling such a service? Hahaha!

 

[Watson306]

Flash the non-rog firmware.

Perform a full reset.

Do not import any old backup config files.

Do not insert any USB drive that you have previously used for amtm/scripts.

Do not toggle settings on/off to see what they do. (Toggling settings is not the same as leaving them at their default 'off' positions).

At this point, perform a minimal and manual configuration to secure the router and connect to your ISP.

Without playing with any other settings, test for your issue again.

If the issue is fixed (after testing for a few hours/days), proceed slowly when making any changes to the router's configuration.

If the issue isn't fixed, but everything else works, it's not the router. Time to look elsewhere.

Thanks for your help.
I have done exactly as you said, and initially it worked, but it now doesnt which makes things confusing.
I have raised a ticket with my ISP to see if they have any input.

 

[Watson306]

What specifically does it look like when you “can’t connect”? DNS issue? Connection hangs? Connection times out?

Can you reach the web portal?

Sign in to your account

portal.office.com

Outlook says disconnected, and teams comes back with server errors. But as said if I use my 5G MiFi - no issues whatsoever.
Tests to portal via broadband - cant get to it, but via 5G connection can.

 

[dave14305]

Tests to portal via broadband - cant get to it, but via 5G connection can.

Screenshot of when you “can’t get to it”? It will help understand the next steps.

 

[Watson306]

Screenshot of when you “can’t get to it”? It will help understand the next steps.

Here we go:

 

[dave14305]

Here we go:
View attachment 56951

Barring any other explanation, I would assume Microsoft is banning your ISP for one reason or other.

 

[bennor]

What do the router logs indicate around the time you cannot access the Microsoft services?
Is it possible this issue is the same as your other thread since you mentioned zscaler?
Did you review the link Tech9 posted in your other thread to see if it solves your previous issue?
Config | Zscaler
Have you looked at other threads where zscaler is mentioned to see if any suggestions there are useful?
https://www.snbforums.com/search/11...t&c[child_nodes]=1&c[nodes][0]=37&o=relevance
Have you tried different WAN/LAN DNS servers as a troubleshooting test?

 

[Watson306]

Barring any other explanation, I would assume Microsoft is banning your ISP for one reason or other.

That is my thoughts aswell - bit I have tried cloning the mac address of my laptop onto the router which gave me a different public IP address - which resulted in the same outcome.
But I have raised it - will see what they come back with.

 

[Watson306]

What do the router logs indicate around the time you cannot access the Microsoft services?
Is it possible this issue is the same as your other thread since you mentioned zscaler?
Did you review the link Tech9 posted in your other thread to see if it solves your previous issue?
Config | Zscaler
Have you looked at other threads where zscaler is mentioned to see if any suggestions there are useful?
https://www.snbforums.com/search/11...t&c[child_nodes]=1&c[nodes][0]=37&o=relevance
Have you tried different WAN/LAN DNS servers as a troubleshooting test?

I dont see anything in the logs at the time of the issue - and I have just tried to access portal.office.com again to see if anything shows - but nothing.
I did look at the zscaler pages posted previously but my company have left anyconnect on our laptops aswell because the zscaler is not quite doing what everyone needs so I tried both and the same outcome.
Also any microsoft traffic appears to go out to the internet locally rather than via the VPN, and I also discovered I cant access it via my personal laptop - which has made me rule out zscaler - hence starting this thread.

 

[Watson306]

Thanks everyone for your help.
The ISP came back to me to say they have made some changes which should have resolved my issue.
So I tested and all is good.
On closer inspection they have changed my IP address to a totally different range (first octet totally different).
Thanks once again.