Solution!
I had a problem similar to this, and found a solution!
At around 5am, my mfsys25 sent me 3 error messages: Server 1 failed, Server 2 failed and Server 3 failed! The next morning, I started problem solving with a hard reboot. Long story short, there were no Server Blade failures, it appears my Switch Failed.
Others have described this problem: Everything internal seems fine, boot up and external ports 'flash green' as if an external network is being established.. then the external port lights go off and nothing can be done to establish an external network connection.
Next, I replaced my switch with a BRAND NEW switch module. Same problem! Multiple reboots. Increased waiting time switched off. No change ALL DAY. I assumed something internally (in the rack/case) had failed! Ready to read last rites, then I tried one more thing:
I only have 3 server blades and three external network connections. So I created 1 VLAN for each external connection to each internal connection and, one by one, turned Spanning Tree off for each external port:
It is possible that the Spanning Tree algorithm is 'complex' and requires hardware that is not needed when a simple direct connection is needed.
Anyhoo, it overcame my failure and now the system has been up for a day (fingers crossed, touch wood).
Hope this works for you too!!
gdoig