nginx in 1.9.11 introduces a Dynamic Module, you can more easily determine which modules used to hang: "Introducing Dynamic Modules in NGINX 1.9.11."

From the past:

an extra option:

and therefore more load_module function can be used:

To load a module at runtime, include the new load_module directive in the main context, specifying the path to the shared object file for the module, enclosed in quotation marks. When you reload the configuration or restart NGINX, the module is loaded in. You can specify a path relative to the source directory, as in these examples, or a full path.

load_module "modules / ngx_http_geoip_module.so";
load_module "modules / ngx_stream_module.so";