There is no joy in that solution :-(
Again I see no difference in the messages file.
I did note that the command line you gave removed the disable_msi option from the module options.
Using the command line
esxcfg-module -s 'force_netq=0,0,0,0 disable_msi=1' bnx2
I set both options and tried that combination as well.
Unfortunately there was no change in the behavior.
I swapped out the NC380T with a different card and ran through all the scenarios that have been discussed. Same behavior in all cases.
Kevin