HP ProCurve 2610 weird behavior with mgmt IP

[brakness]

Greetings,

 I've just started working for this company recently and they have been plagued with network problems due to my predecessors lack of knowledge in networking or whatever the reason may be.  One of the issues that I can't seem to resolve just yet other than proceeding with configuring the switches properly.  The management IP of one of the switches stop responding when I try to access it.  It doesn't happen all the time, but I'm noticing that it is happening more than once so I know there's either something wrong with the switch itself or with the network setup.  So at any given time, I will telnet into the switch and it will usually work. Occasionally, I will telnet into the switch and get the first screen upon connecting (press any key to continue), but it then gets stuck there.  Another example of the problem is I will try to ping it and get a response from the first ping, then it will not respond.  I've attached a quick Visio drawing of how the Procurve switches are setup.  The funny thing is that when the problem is happening I can ping and telnet into the faulty switch using another switch that is attached to Port 26 but not Port 25 or any other devices attached to the other ports, just 26. 

None of the ports that the switches are connected to are setup as "trunk" ports, just regular switch ports.  Could this be a problem?  Another thing to note: the switch that is connected to port 26 (bldg switch) can reach the problem switch from within the management IP, but not from a laptop connected to that bldg switch.

Can anyone clarify?
Thanks

-Renato