diff --git a/main.qml b/main.qml
index 91de9efd..83e294ec 100644
--- a/main.qml
+++ b/main.qml
@@ -236,7 +236,6 @@ ApplicationWindow {
     }
 
     function connectWallet(wallet) {
-        showProcessingSplash("Please wait...")
         currentWallet = wallet
         updateSyncing(false)
 
@@ -342,9 +341,6 @@ ApplicationWindow {
 
     function onWalletRefresh() {
         console.log(">>> wallet refreshed")
-        if (splash.visible) {
-            hideProcessingSplash()
-        }
 
         // Daemon connected
         leftPanel.networkStatus.connected = currentWallet.connected()
@@ -385,6 +381,9 @@ ApplicationWindow {
     }
 
     function startDaemon(flags){
+        // Pause refresh while starting daemon
+        currentWallet.pauseRefresh();
+
         appWindow.showProcessingSplash(qsTr("Waiting for daemon to start..."))
         daemonManager.start(flags, persistentSettings.testnet);
         persistentSettings.daemonFlags = flags
@@ -399,6 +398,9 @@ ApplicationWindow {
         console.log("daemon started");
         daemonRunning = true;
         hideProcessingSplash();
+        currentWallet.connected(true);
+        // resume refresh
+        currentWallet.startRefresh();
     }
     function onDaemonStopped(){
         console.log("daemon stopped");
@@ -407,6 +409,19 @@ ApplicationWindow {
         currentWallet.connected(true);
     }
 
+    function onDaemonStartFailure(){
+        console.log("daemon start failed");
+        hideProcessingSplash();
+        // resume refresh
+        currentWallet.startRefresh();
+        daemonRunning = false;
+        informationPopup.title = qsTr("Daemon failed to start") + translationManager.emptyString;
+        informationPopup.text  = qsTr("Please check your wallet and daemon log for errors. You can also try to start %1 manually.").arg((isWindows)? "monerod.exe" : "monerod")
+        informationPopup.icon  = StandardIcon.Critical
+        informationPopup.onCloseCallback = null
+        informationPopup.open();
+    }
+
     function onWalletNewBlock(blockHeight, targetHeight) {
         // Update progress bar
         var remaining = targetHeight - blockHeight;
@@ -769,6 +784,7 @@ ApplicationWindow {
         walletManager.walletClosed.connect(onWalletClosed);
 
         daemonManager.daemonStarted.connect(onDaemonStarted);
+        daemonManager.daemonStartFailure.connect(onDaemonStartFailure);
         daemonManager.daemonStopped.connect(onDaemonStopped);
 
         if(!walletsFound()) {
@@ -1239,6 +1255,7 @@ ApplicationWindow {
     }
     onClosing: {
         // Close wallet non async on exit
+        daemonManager.exit();
         walletManager.closeWallet();
     }
 
diff --git a/pages/Settings.qml b/pages/Settings.qml
index 651357cb..0bd1816c 100644
--- a/pages/Settings.qml
+++ b/pages/Settings.qml
@@ -407,7 +407,7 @@ Rectangle {
         console.log("Settings page loaded");
         initSettings();
         viewOnly = currentWallet.viewOnly;
-        daemonManager.running(persistentSettings.testnet)
+        appWindow.daemonRunning =  daemonManager.running(persistentSettings.testnet)
     }
 
     // fires only once
diff --git a/src/daemon/DaemonManager.cpp b/src/daemon/DaemonManager.cpp
index 606448d9..47ad10cf 100644
--- a/src/daemon/DaemonManager.cpp
+++ b/src/daemon/DaemonManager.cpp
@@ -7,6 +7,11 @@
 #include <QtConcurrent/QtConcurrent>
 #include <QApplication>
 #include <QProcess>
+#include <QTime>
+
+namespace {
+    static const int DAEMON_START_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 30;
+}
 
 DaemonManager * DaemonManager::m_instance = nullptr;
 QStringList DaemonManager::m_clArgs;
@@ -69,23 +74,93 @@ bool DaemonManager::start(const QString &flags, bool testnet)
 
     if (!started) {
         qDebug() << "Daemon start error: " + m_daemon->errorString();
-    } else {
-        emit daemonStarted();
+        emit daemonStartFailure();
+        return false;
     }
 
-    return started;
+    // Start start watcher
+    QFuture<bool> future = QtConcurrent::run(this, &DaemonManager::startWatcher, testnet);
+    QFutureWatcher<bool> * watcher = new QFutureWatcher<bool>();
+    connect(watcher, &QFutureWatcher<bool>::finished,
+            this, [this, watcher]() {
+        QFuture<bool> future = watcher->future();
+        watcher->deleteLater();
+        if(future.result())
+            emit daemonStarted();
+        else
+            emit daemonStartFailure();
+    });
+    watcher->setFuture(future);
+
+
+    return true;
 }
 
 bool DaemonManager::stop(bool testnet)
 {
     QString message;
-    bool stopped = sendCommand("exit",testnet,message);
+    sendCommand("exit",testnet,message);
     qDebug() << message;
-    if(stopped)
-        emit daemonStopped();
-    return stopped;
+
+    // Start stop watcher - Will kill if not shutting down
+    QFuture<bool> future = QtConcurrent::run(this, &DaemonManager::stopWatcher, testnet);
+    QFutureWatcher<bool> * watcher = new QFutureWatcher<bool>();
+    connect(watcher, &QFutureWatcher<bool>::finished,
+            this, [this, watcher]() {
+        QFuture<bool> future = watcher->future();
+        watcher->deleteLater();
+        if(future.result()) {
+            emit daemonStopped();
+        }
+    });
+    watcher->setFuture(future);
+
+    return true;
 }
 
+bool DaemonManager::startWatcher(bool testnet) const
+{
+    // Check if daemon is started every 2 seconds
+    QTime timer;
+    timer.restart();
+    while(true && !m_app_exit && timer.elapsed() / 1000 < DAEMON_START_TIMEOUT_SECONDS  ) {
+        QThread::sleep(2);
+        if(!running(testnet)) {
+            qDebug() << "daemon not running. checking again in 2 seconds.";
+        } else {
+            qDebug() << "daemon is started. Waiting 5 seconds to let daemon catch up";
+            QThread::sleep(5);
+            return true;
+        }
+    }
+    return false;
+}
+
+bool DaemonManager::stopWatcher(bool testnet) const
+{
+    // Check if daemon is running every 2 seconds. Kill if still running after 10 seconds
+    int counter = 0;
+    while(true && !m_app_exit) {
+        QThread::sleep(2);
+        counter++;
+        if(running(testnet)) {
+            qDebug() << "Daemon still running.  " << counter;
+            if(counter >= 5) {
+                qDebug() << "Killing it! ";
+#ifdef Q_OS_WIN
+                QProcess::execute("taskkill /F /IM monerod.exe");
+#else
+                QProcess::execute("pkill monerod");
+#endif
+            }
+
+        } else
+            return true;
+    }
+    return false;
+}
+
+
 void DaemonManager::stateChanged(QProcess::ProcessState state)
 {
     qDebug() << "STATE CHANGED: " << state;
@@ -124,10 +199,8 @@ bool DaemonManager::running(bool testnet) const
     // `./monerod status` returns BUSY when syncing.
     // Treat busy as connected, until fixed upstream.
     if (status.contains("Height:") || status.contains("BUSY") ) {
-        emit daemonStarted();
         return true;
     }
-    emit daemonStopped();
     return false;
 }
 bool DaemonManager::sendCommand(const QString &cmd,bool testnet) const
@@ -155,6 +228,12 @@ bool DaemonManager::sendCommand(const QString &cmd,bool testnet, QString &messag
     return started;
 }
 
+void DaemonManager::exit()
+{
+    qDebug("DaemonManager: exit()");
+    m_app_exit = true;
+}
+
 DaemonManager::DaemonManager(QObject *parent)
     : QObject(parent)
 {
diff --git a/src/daemon/DaemonManager.h b/src/daemon/DaemonManager.h
index bd13ef60..428630e1 100644
--- a/src/daemon/DaemonManager.h
+++ b/src/daemon/DaemonManager.h
@@ -20,12 +20,17 @@ public:
     Q_INVOKABLE bool running(bool testnet) const;
     // Send daemon command from qml and prints output in console window.
     Q_INVOKABLE bool sendCommand(const QString &cmd, bool testnet) const;
+    Q_INVOKABLE void exit();
 
 private:
+
     bool sendCommand(const QString &cmd, bool testnet, QString &message) const;
+    bool startWatcher(bool testnet) const;
+    bool stopWatcher(bool testnet) const;
 signals:
     void daemonStarted() const;
     void daemonStopped() const;
+    void daemonStartFailure() const;
     void daemonConsoleUpdated(QString message) const;
 
 public slots:
@@ -41,6 +46,7 @@ private:
     bool initialized = false;
     QString m_monerod;
     bool m_has_daemon = true;
+    bool m_app_exit = false;
 
 };
 
diff --git a/src/libwalletqt/Wallet.cpp b/src/libwalletqt/Wallet.cpp
index 2b36920f..547596fa 100644
--- a/src/libwalletqt/Wallet.cpp
+++ b/src/libwalletqt/Wallet.cpp
@@ -302,6 +302,16 @@ int Wallet::autoRefreshInterval() const
     return m_walletImpl->autoRefreshInterval();
 }
 
+void Wallet::startRefresh() const
+{
+    m_walletImpl->startRefresh();
+}
+
+void Wallet::pauseRefresh() const
+{
+    m_walletImpl->pauseRefresh();
+}
+
 PendingTransaction *Wallet::createTransaction(const QString &dst_addr, const QString &payment_id,
                                               quint64 amount, quint32 mixin_count,
                                               PendingTransaction::Priority priority)
diff --git a/src/libwalletqt/Wallet.h b/src/libwalletqt/Wallet.h
index a11cabe9..c75f53b1 100644
--- a/src/libwalletqt/Wallet.h
+++ b/src/libwalletqt/Wallet.h
@@ -146,6 +146,10 @@ public:
     //! return auto-refresh interval in seconds
     Q_INVOKABLE int autoRefreshInterval() const;
 
+    // pause/resume refresh
+    Q_INVOKABLE void startRefresh() const;
+    Q_INVOKABLE void pauseRefresh() const;
+
     //! creates transaction
     Q_INVOKABLE PendingTransaction * createTransaction(const QString &dst_addr, const QString &payment_id,
                                                        quint64 amount, quint32 mixin_count,