you can use Ajax UpdatePanel and UpdateProgress to activate loader control in every such postbacks.
<asp:ScriptManager runat="server" ID="sm1" ></asp:ScriptManager>
<asp:UpdateProgress runat="server" id="PageUpdateProgress11">
<ProgressTemplate>
<DIV id="IMGDIV" align="center" valign="middle" runat="server" class="overlay">
<img src="images/loader.gif" border="0"/><br />
</DIV>
</ProgressTemplate>
</asp:UpdateProgress>
<asp:UpdatePanel runat="server" ID="updMLO"><ContentTemplate>
<asp:DropDownList runat="server"></asp:DropDownList>
<asp:GridView runat="server">.......</asp:GridView>
</ContentTemplate></asp:UpdatePanel>