GUI Splash Screen Freeze (GP10)

Symptoms

This issue typically presents in one of the following ways:

-GuardPoint 10 (GP10) launches and hangs indefinitely on the splash/loading screen.

-The splash screen appears briefly, then disappears and the GUI never opens.

-No clear error is shown to the user, but GP10 does not fully start.

This has most commonly been observed when running the GP10 client directly on the server, but can also occur on workstations.

Initial Checks

1. Temporarily disable antivirus / endpoint protection / firewall

   • This includes products such as Sophos, Defender, Sentinel etc.

   • Restart the GP10 client and see if it loads correctly.

2. If GP10 starts successfully with protection disabled:

   • Re-enable security software

   • Add permanent exclusions for the GP10 installation directories

   • Re-test

If disabling security software does not resolve the issue, continue below.

Check the GP10 Logs

Navigate to:

C:\ProgramData\ACS\Logs\

Review the following files:

• combined.txt

• combined_critical.txt

Look for errors during startup, especially messages similar to:

- Error resolve assembly: System.Reactive.PlatformServices

- SignalR / RxTriggers connection failures

- HTTP 503 errors when connecting to http://<server>:7654

If you see errors like the above, continue with the steps below.

Root Cause

In the cases we have seen, this issue is caused by two combined factors:

1. Endpoint protection interfering with .NET assemblies

   • Required System.Reactive (Rx) DLLs are blocked or prevented from loading at runtime.

2. Local HTTP traffic being forced through a corporate web proxy

   • GP10 uses an internal SignalR service (RxTriggers) over HTTP on port 7654
     

   • The operating system routes even local traffic (e.g. server hostname) via a proxy (Smoothwall / Squid)

   • This causes GP10 to fail to connect to its own local service and hang during startup.

Resolution Steps

1. Confirm the SignalR service is listening

On the server, open an elevated command prompt and run:

netstat -ano | findstr :7654

You should see the port in a LISTENING state.

Also test in a browser on the server:

• http://localhost:7654

2. Bypass the proxy for local traffic

On the server:

1. Open Internet Options

2. Go to Connections → LAN Settings → Advanced

3. Enable:

   • Bypass proxy server for local addresses

4. Add the following to Exceptions:

   localhost
   127.0.0.1
   <SERVER-NAME> <SERVER-NAME>:7654
   

Apply and close all dialogs.

3. Check and reset WinHTTP proxy

Open an elevated Command Prompt and run:

netsh winhttp show proxy

If a proxy is configured and not required for this server, reset it:

netsh winhttp reset proxy

(This is especially important, as GP10 services use WinHTTP rather than browser proxy settings.)

4. Restart the GP10 client

• Ensure all GP10 GUI processes are closed

• Launch the GP10 client again

• The splash screen should now complete and the GUI should load normally

Final Step

Once the GP10 GUI has been confirmed to start and operate normally:

Antivirus / Endpoint Protection Exclusions

Re-enable antivirus or endpoint protection and add permanent exclusions for the following locations:

Required (GP10)

C:\Program Files (x86)\GuardPoint10\
C:\ProgramData\ACS\

Optional (SQL – recommended but environment-dependent)

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\

Service Exclusions

Please also ensure the following GP10 services are excluded from antivirus / endpoint protection scanning and runtime protection:

- AcsApiService

- AcsNMService

- AcsSecComService1

- AcsServer

- AcsSuprema

- AcsWatchdog