In self-reference if you bind the grid to a record having is ParentId the same as its Id, the grid will try to create a row which is parented by itself. This is not valid input data and we should throw a proper exception, otherwise the application will freeze.

How to reproduce: 
public partial class Form2 : Form
{
    private BindingList<DataObject> data;

    public Form2()
    {
        InitializeComponent();

        this.radGridView1.AutoGenerateHierarchy = true;
        this.data = new BindingList<DataObject>();

        int count = 10;
        for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)
        {
            DataObject p = new DataObject();
            p.Id = i;
            p.Name = "Parent " + i;
            this.data.Add(p);

            for (int j = 0; j < count; j++)
            {
                DataObject c = new DataObject();
                c.Id = count + j + i * count;
                c.Name = "Child " + i;
                c.ParentId = i;
                this.data.Add(c);
            }
        }

        this.radButton1.Click += RadButton1_Click;
    }

    private void RadButton1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (this.radGridView1.Relations.Count > 0)
        {
            this.radGridView1.Relations.Clear();
        }

        this.radGridView1.DataSource = this.data;
        this.radGridView1.Relations.AddSelfReference(this.radGridView1.MasterTemplate, "Id", "ParentId");

    }
}

public class DataObject
{
    public int Id { get; set; }

    public string Name { get; set; }

    public int ParentId { get; set; }
}


Workaround: set the ParentId of the parent records

int count = 10;
for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)
{
    DataObject p = new DataObject();
    p.Id = i;
    p.Name = "Parent " + i;
    p.ParentId = -1;
    this.data.Add(p);

    for (int j = 0; j < count; j++)
    {
        DataObject c = new DataObject();
        c.Id = count + j + i * count;
        c.Name = "Child " + i;
        c.ParentId = i;
        this.data.Add(c);
    }
}