vmware-server (and workstation and player) doesn't work over kernel >=2.6.22 on amd64. The emerge and service start both go well but after a few seconds of network activity the machine hangs completely. Only a hard reset fixes the problem. The obvious escape from this issue is downgrading to kernel 2.6.19 which seems to work fine. It is what I'm doing on two older servers. The problem is one newer server which has a giga ethernet card only supported by kernel 2.6.22 (TTansic L1). The problem seems to be related to a interrupt space change Linus did on 2.6.22. Apparently vmware-any-any-update113 fixes this issue (see the comment on <http://servervirtualization.blogs.techtarget.com/2007/08/15/linux-kernel-2622-and-vmware/>). Unfortunately current ebuilds still use vmware-any-any-update112. My emerge --info: # emerge --info Portage 2.1.2.11 (default-linux/amd64/2006.1, gcc-4.1.2, glibc-2.5-r4, 2.6.22-gentoo-r2 x86_64) ================================================================= System uname: 2.6.22-gentoo-r2 x86_64 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4600+ Gentoo Base System release 1.12.9 Timestamp of tree: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 09:30:01 +0000 distcc 2.18.3 x86_64-pc-linux-gnu (protocols 1 and 2) (default port 3632) [enabled] ccache version 2.4 [enabled] dev-lang/python: 2.4.4-r4 dev-python/pycrypto: 2.0.1-r6 dev-util/ccache: 2.4-r7 sys-apps/sandbox: 1.2.17 sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13, 2.61 sys-devel/automake: 1.4_p6, 1.5, 1.6.3, 1.7.9-r1, 1.8.5-r3, 1.9.6-r2, 1.10 sys-devel/binutils: 2.17 sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.3.16 sys-devel/libtool: 1.5.23b virtual/os-headers: 2.6.21 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64" AUTOCLEAN="yes" CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CFLAGS="-O2 -march=k8 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer" CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/env.d /etc/gconf /etc/php/apache2-php4/ext-active/ /etc/php/apache2-php5/ext-active/ /etc/php/cgi-php4/ext-active/ /etc/php/cgi-php5/ext-active/ /etc/php/cli-php4/ext-active/ /etc/php/cli-php5/ext-active/ /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/terminfo" CXXFLAGS="-O2 -march=k8 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="ccache distcc distlocks metadata-transfer parallel-fetch sandbox sfperms strict" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://gentoo.mirrors.pair.com/http://gentoo.ccccom.com/ http://gentoo.osuosl.org/" LINGUAS="en pt_BR" MAKEOPTS="-j5" PKGDIR="/var/packages" PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --delete-after --stats --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages --filter=H_**/files/digest-*" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/usr/local/portage-fabrica /usr/local/portage" SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="amd64 bitmap-fonts bzip2 cli cracklib crypt dri fortran gif gpm iconv isdnlog jbig jpeg ldap md5sum midi mpeg mudflap ncurses nptl nptlonly openmp pam pcre pdf perl png ppds pppd python readline reflection session spl ssl svg tcpd tiff truetype truetype-fonts type1-fonts unicode wmf xorg xpm zlib" ALSA_CARDS="ali5451 als4000 atiixp atiixp-modem bt87x ca0106 cmipci emu10k1x ens1370 ens1371 es1938 es1968 fm801 hda-intel intel8x0 intel8x0m maestro3 trident usb-audio via82xx via82xx-modem ymfpci" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty extplug file hooks iec958 ioplug ladspa lfloat linear meter mulaw multi null plug rate route share shm softvol" ELIBC="glibc" INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" LINGUAS="en pt_BR" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="vesa" Unset: CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, INSTALL_MASK, LANG, LC_ALL, LDFLAGS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 189062 ***
