I changed out routers and I'm BACK BABY!!!!!!
Thanks for catching what I should have.....
I do not know what network connection has to do with the BB board properly loading firmware and recognizing the connected hash boards but apparently it does.
I checked my router, I use an ASUS RT-AC68U, saw there was another firmware update, so I updated. After the update I was checking through some other settings. The log showed the "AiProtect" app was blocking malicious activity and sending alert emails. I received no emails of the sort, so that may be another issue. The ip addresses it was blocking were all for my miners. I turned off all settings for the AiProtect app built in to the ASUS router and BAM! green status lights and we're off to the races.
So switching off that protection as ASUS calls it and the hardware version on the miner no longer shows x.x.x.x and the cgminer field now has the version number and the miner status page shows all pools, board status, fan speeds, and temps, and the boards are hashing again.
So for those that run into this problem in the future:
Bitmain says the device "has lost its firmware" and tells you to reboot the device or reflash using a microSD. While this may be a viable solution for some, it may be easier to check network settings first, especially if more that one device is affected.