I am not sure if it is the same as I am observing:
The Vera hanging is due to Luup reload which occurs intermittently. (as of the last 7.0.11)
During a period of time, my vera web server would crash on a regular basis (every few days). When the crash occurs, I could SSH into the unit but would not be able to access it through the webpage and none of the light on the unit would indicate anything wrong. I would reboot the unit through SSH to recover. Sometimes, the vera would reboot itself completely after it sensed that it could not reach the mcv web server. I contacted support and found that the Ergy app was throwing a lot of errors.
I had the exact same “LUUP taking longer to reload” occur to me this morning while trying to upgrade firmware. I take that it is more related to a mishap getting to the firmware upgrade itself.
The fact that you were stuck in a loop after the upgrade is a bit concerning. You may have lost the web server too.
Then contact support to look at logs. You might have a rogue buggy plug-in. I had this for a while and had to SSH into my unit every few days to reboot. See what comes out. Other people have reported also some servers on their network pinging the Vera too much as a possible problem.