Have you connected to the UART pins (between the USB ports) to monitor the boot log? What's it say? If your next question is "how do i do that?" well... I use a FTDI FT232RL based DSD TECH SH-U09C2 and set the jumper to 3v3. I use `screen` from my linux-based daily-driver. Connect to the d...
While I don't have an answer to the staggered spin-up question, I will say that I cannot reproduce this problem. I've manually shutdown/unplugged and booted back up several times, also had power outages at home with automatic restarts. Parts list: NanoPi M4V2 w/ 4x SATA Hat 4x Seagate ST8000NM0055 A...