Thank you ,
im measuring something similar .
so this seems normal .
i can replicate the behaviour now and i hope this will help to track down my problem .
when i connect my core with NG 1.036 to a external psu ( no usb data connection ) the app / core is always starting properly .
when i connect the core to usb ( as long as there is no data handshake with mios , ableton or any software ) it will boot fine .
when the core is connected to usb (power) and i start mios or any other app on the mac (e.g. ableton , logic etc ) the core is crashing.
the hard fault adress is always 0x000189ce .
i can workaround this crash if i boot with “Bootloader HOLD Mode jumper” and remove the jumper afterwards.
how can i find out about the hard fault adress ?
ps . you are right about “disable UART..” from config file .
this is preventing the hard fault (as well) .
but then i loose the midi in / out ( 5 pole DIN ) 
actually after reactivating UART and reducing encoders ( from 125 to 33 ) as well as reducing aout channels (from 32 to 8) , the hard fault seems to have vanished.
i still would like to know how to find and identify the hard fault adress