Hi there,
Not very helpful but can confirm that I have the same issue as you.
Happens when going from 1 to 2 then from 2 to 4 as well and doesn't seem to matter the socket/core ratio. Hot add of memory works happily and without issues.
Meant to be supported (VMware Compatibility Guide - Guest/Host Search) with the version of the builds we are running so perhaps it time to log a support call? Guess we can wait to see if anybody else is able to do this successfully?
Kind regards.