ubuntu groovy desktop replace partition; never progresses

[Chris Guiver]

Ubuntu groovy install (desktop)
dell [optiplex] 755 (c2d-e8300, 8gb, amd/ati radeon rv610/radeon hd2400 pro/xt)

** Background

About 30 minutes before this install, the second partition on the hdd (sda5) was used for a successful Lubuntu groovy QA-test install (testcase: replace partition; see http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/milestones/413/builds/219576/testcases/1701/results/). That had no issues

** Testcase
Using manual partitioning on Ubuntu desktop, I selected the same partition (sda5), selected ext4 and format, but it fails to progress. It's had ~an hour to get somewhere and hasn't.

** Duplicate
This bug will be marked a duplicate; "watched kettle never boils" https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1892617

It's occurred with Xubuntu daily (what it's filed against), and also recently Lubuntu 18.04.5?? and I've only had this issue recently, and currently only on this d755-8 box (though not a common install)

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.10
Package: ubiquity 20.10.9
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-42.46-generic 5.4.44
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-42-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu42
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
CasperVersion: 1.452
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Thu Aug 27 06:58:10 2020
InstallCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed maybe-ubiquity quiet splash ---
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 20.10 "Groovy Gorilla" - Alpha amd64 (20200728)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=C.UTF-8
SourcePackage: ubiquity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)