If bridged networking is failing for a VM in VMware with a Linux host, try the following.
$ ethtool -K eth0 sg off rx off tx off
or
$ ethtool -K eth0 sg off rx off tx off tso off
This usually manifests itself as eth0 being unable to get an IP address and causes the VM to hang for a few minutes on boot.
Source
http://scottbarnham.com/blog/2007/08/23/vmware-on-ubuntu-linux-with-bridged-network-to-xp/
Linux - Networking