ASUS ac68u / ac68r device connection or firmware issues

I've got the ASUS ac68r that was running on ASUSs latest firmware builds, but was giving me very slow network transfer speeds (SMB transfers on a good day 10MBps) from an AC wireless laptop to a Gb wired desktop. So I gave DD WRT firmware (whatever was known to be most stable at the time) a run. Install went fine, but the speeds were lacking. I made some quick wireless setting adjustments and achieved good speeds (30-60MBps in the same scenario as before). However the router started to crash every 15 minutes or so (transferring data or not). I made the switch to ASUSwrt Merlin firmware recently and the speeds are as good and the device uptime is better, but clients are having issues getting internet access after waking up from sleep or for example when I come home from work. As soon as I access the router via 192.168.1.1 to see if devices are showing up, all of the sudden devices regain internet access... Not sure whats going on. I would like to keep running this firmware, so if anyone has any ideas I would appreciate the input!

I'm not a networking wizard by any means. So the only troubleshooting I've done is assigning static IP to some devices. Not sure where else to start.

Thank you!

I'm actually rocking the exact same router with Merlin as well, but don't seem to be experiencing the same issue you're having.

Are you able to save and post the system log?

On the configuration homepage go to 'System Log' on the left sidebar and save it. If you could post it to pastebin so that we can look over it it might give us some clue as to what is going on.

Okay thanks for that, I'll post it once I arrive home!

What firmware version are you running?

I'm currently on 378.54_2

Alright thanks for the response. Figured i'd post an update. Finally got pfSense up and running. I changed the ASUS AC68 from Router to AP, which (crossing fingers) so far so good! Running firmware 378.55