I think that I would have the same thoughts that you do because by itself, moving from page 2 to page 3 doesn't do anything different, other than access a different page in the RAM. Any chance you can loop on reading PROD_ID in page 0 and take a scope shot of the SPI signals, then post it? Triggering on CS going low and setting all offset and scale factors (horizontal and vertical) to have clear signal visibility helps establish a predictable basis for inspecting the signals as well. Also, do you notice any other behaviors that seem to come with moving from page 2 to page 3? For example, does the power supply current change? Does the voltage change? I will keep thinking about this because I am not sure I have seen anything like this before, either.
Best,
NevadaMark