GT-BE98 Pro Loses DNS with stock or merlin fw

[revo770]

I appreciate any assistance. I have been struggling with this router (v2.0) for almost a month and am very close to returning it. I have Hotwire Fiber to the home via Nokia ONT. Upon connection I was prompted for fw update via Asus for 3.0.0.6.102_39112 which i installed, rebooted and factory restored before even connecting all clients. I used the router with various wired and wireless devices without issue for a day or so then I was unable to connect to websites on both wired and wireless clients. I rebooted and in most cases connection was fixed. Then at least twice a day I would randomly lose DNS and would have to reboot or "apply" any setting under WAN and the issue would rectify itself. I also did not see any indication of DNS error in the logs. Through research I discovered Merlin and installed 3.0.0.6.102 with a reboot and factory restore hoping this must be the fix, the problems still persisted. I still have this Merlin fw version installed now. I have found just a few mentions of this problem from other users and tried all suggested fixes in those posts so I am wondering if I have a bad unit or is this a bad router in general? I really like the features of this router and when it is working it is great. I am open to any guidance, thank you.

I have swapped to different Public DNS and manually input into LAN settings with no change.
I have changed to DHCP query frequency to all three options, the continuous option seems quicker to resolve the issue then the other two but the issue still persists.
I have specified the WAN port under settings in Dual WAN section to 2.5gb
I have my main hardwired computer connected to the 10gb ROG port.
WPS is disabled

All other feature options have been disabled.