I know this is stupid to ask but can you test setting up servers fresh from a .iso? No template, no domain join, no nothing that would create any predefined settings. If the issue doesnt persist, maybe there is a legacy gpo or something that forces it for domain recognition before allowing other network traffic. Or something completely different but we gotta corner the problem in with troubleshooting.
And also maybe create a script that’s being fired at bootup. The script could write the timecode and the “ipconfig /all” and “route print” into a textfile every few miliseconds.
This would create large logfiles but might help. Since if you are even uncapable of pinging local adresses with IPv4 adresses, maybe the network stack just simply doesn’t load fast enough.
Also some additional info might help with cornering it in such as:
is it only occuring on Virtualized Machines?
what Hypervisor is being used?
are there more than one kind of hypervisor brand? (For e.g. Vmware and Hyper-V)
is the problem also ocurring on Bare Metal Servers? (Windows Server OS being installed directly on the Server without usage of Virtualisation)
is your Domain Forest an old one, that you didnt create initially - or another way of asking: could there be GPO’s or Templates that have settings in them, that you dont know about?
did you already try to connect two servers together by directly connecting them to each other and sniffing the NIC output via Wireshark? Maybe you can use this to parallel Check the behaviour of the bootup script with the Routing Tables and IP-Settings. Maybe somthing sticks out weirdly enough to catch your attention?