VMware Fusion causes ethernet to stop on guest and host

[LinerJoe]

I built a new hackintosh about 4 months ago, and it has been very stable, without any issues until recently.

 

I run VMware Fusion 3.1.1 with a Windows 7 and an Ubuntu 10.10 install with network in bridge mode. When there is a "heavy" network load from either VM, it will cause the Ethernet connection on the host to stop functioning, which cause OS X and the VM to stop functioning. In Windows, it has so far been caused by ThumbGen (an application which generates thumbnails for movies for WD TV's), but just appears to be network traffic, a lot of lookups, not a lot of actual data. On Linux, just an update of the repositories (again, not a lot of actual data, but quite a few transactions) will do it.

 

The only way I have found to restart the networking is to reboot. This has worked every time (so far). I have not had any issue with normal network transfers in Mac OS X, copying gigs of data with no issue. Also, copying data through SMB between the VM and the host doesn't cause any issue. System Preferences -> Network shows the interface green with an IP address, but I can't ping anything (including the gateway). Deleting the ARP entry of the gateway and pinging it doesn't learn the new entry. Entering a static address does not function either. Switching back to DHCP I'll get a 169.254.x.x address, so it's not actually sending DHCP packets.

 

This is quite strange, and searches haven't turned up anything. Other than this particular issue, I haven't had any other issues.

 

10.6.5 (everything updated)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2

CPU: Intel i5-750

4GB RAM, Gigabyte GT240, 650 GB WD Caviar Black, 1 TB Samsung, LG BD Burner

 

NIC driver - RealtekR1000SL.kext

 

Thanks for any help!

 

joe