Very new to linux, using a p120 packard bell w/1.2G HD. How long should partitionig take, its been over 2 hours and its still working?

That is definately not normal. Partitioning doesn't take very long at all, formatting takes a while longer, but with a small drive like yours even if it is formatting it shouldn't take that long.

If this drive is blank, do some regular partitioning using fdisk. Switch to another console during the install (assuming this is during the install) with CTRL ALT F2 and then try using fdisk:
fdisk /dev/hda

Then delete all the old partitions:
d
(however many there are)
Then create a new one:
n
How big? Go with the defaults, this will use the entire drive, starting with 1:
1
Then whatever the end is.

Now write it:
w

And now format the drive:
mke2fs -j /dev/hda1

Then restart the install. Now when you get to that part, you can just name /dev/hda as your / partition.

That's one way...

Good Luck

Cool