[CentOS] PAE Kernel doesn´t boot

hi @all,

i´m having big problems implementing a pae-kernel. i´m using centos5 on following hw

intel core2duo 2,66 e6750 gigabyte p35-ds3p board 8 gb ram 4 * samsung_sata_hd501lj nvidia geforce 8500gt

i can use a xen-pae kernel without having problems, but as i need to run vmware, it´s not a valid option to keep that kernel. the default kernel (which supports only up to 4gb ram) works fine, too. as soon as i boot a pae kernel the system stops booting at the point: "udev starting". i also can´t install the 64-bit version of centos5. i´ve tried the following kernels

2.6.18-53.1.4.el5PAE 2.6.18-53.el5PAE 2.6.18-53.1.6.el5PAE 2.6.18-53.1.13.el5PAE

2.6.18-53.1.13.el5xen 2.6.18-53.1.6.el5xen

any suggestions???

tia!!!

tom