@mpattman - I have tried the hardware acceleration, but even with it set to disabled/auto/manual it makes no difference to the eventual outcome of the spinning wheel of doom. This is one of the first things I tried after having a read across quite a few forums which other Draytek users with BT Infinity have come across.

It is odd as i've now two Draytek routers 2862n and 2860n sitting next to each other and both give the same issue as opposed to the BT Hub ( ) which works fine. Unfortunately, BT Hubs are too basic to do anything other than browsing.

@admin3 - I have run quite a few speed tests over the last few days which remain pretty constant of 30mb (give or take), also the connection has never dropped through out this issue which is two ticks in the box.
Although I side-tracked myself, I decided to see what will happen to the connection if I created a remote dial-in vpn from a remote site and leave it connected until the wheel of doom re-appears. This stayed completely stable and connected - no issues at all.

These are my settings if it helps anyone give assistance:

Lan General Setup - https://imgur.com/qvLzTEz
Wan General Setup - https://imgur.com/eW2OO2h
Wan Internet Access - https://imgur.com/zzXcgQR

All router settings are left at default after factory reset apart from above. *back to scratching my head*

Thanks for your help in advance guys.

DNS problem perhaps - Have you tried switching to another provider (presuming you are using BT)?

ChrisW wrote: DNS problem perhaps - Have you tried switching to another provider (presuming you are using BT)?

Thanks for the reply Chris

I have tried this when the lan settings are set to dhcp, so it pulls up the isp (BT) rotation of dns servers.

Additionally, I have also tried plugging the router into the network (basic windows domain with ad/dns/dhcp running) and pointed the lan settings to the internal dns server which has had BT/OpenDNS/Google Public DNS servers added to it's dns forwarders.

It is odd though because to me it does feel like a DNS issue where it's browsing is up and down etc, although when attached to a single laptop with dhcp running it shows its dns servers are correct in the online status.

What happens if (on one test laptop) you manually overide DHCP assigned DNS and enter say Google 8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4?

If i go to my lan settings, turn off dhcp and enter the google public dns servers, sooner or later it will give the wheel of doom.

This would have to be changed when attached to the internal network to point to the internal DNS server though so I can get DNS resolution for the workstations/servers on a vpn.

Checking your config images against my 2860n running firmware v3.8.6 I notice some differences. All I know is that my config works and is very stable on my particular model of router- I'm not passing judgement on whether a particular setting is right or wrong for you in your network!

LAN >> General Setup
I have DHCP Server Enabled (which in my case is how my custom DNS Server [Pi-hole] IP addresses get pushed out to the clients).
I have RIP Protocol Control disabled

WAN >> General Setup
I have DSL mode set to Auto and DSL modem code AnnexA_576d17_572801
Load balance is not enabled
In the table VDSL2 / Service is set to disable and VDSL2 / Customer is set to Enable with Tag value of 101 (the reverse of what you have)

WAN >> Internet Access
Ignoring the ADSL section, for ISP access I only have the username bthomehub@btbroadband.com (no service name or password required). MTU of 1492 works for me.

Whether or not any of these differences are relevant I leave to you... Incidentally I also have IPv6 up & running - which can sometimes cause unexpected issues (long fallback times) particularly if IPv4 & IPv6 DNS are not configured or responding correctly.

Chris