[dnanian]

Two hours to repair permissions? We've literally asked Disk Utility to do it for us, so if it's taking a long time it's likely because it's actually going slowly. Are you sure that's what it's doing?

Open the log (Cmd+L) and scroll to the bottom. Is it, perhaps, saying it's "Refreshing disk arbitration"?

If so, it's likely that an attached device isn't responding right. Power everything off, including all peripherals, disconnect whatever you don't need, then power back on and try again.