gnome-settings-daemon crashed with signal 5 in _XReply() (XSync, apply_settings)

[Sean Seago]

VNC'd to netbook. Session stopped responding after about an hour of use, at which point this error was generated.

ProblemType: Crash
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: gnome-settings-daemon 3.3.5-0ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-17.26-generic 3.2.6
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-17-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 1.92-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
CrashCounter: 1
Date: Mon Feb 20 13:42:12 2012
ExecutablePath: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon/gnome-settings-daemon
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111012)
ProcCmdline: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon/gnome-settings-daemon
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
Signal: 5
SourcePackage: gnome-settings-daemon
StacktraceTop:
 ?? () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libX11.so.6
 ?? () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libX11.so.6
 _XReply () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libX11.so.6
 XSync () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libX11.so.6
 ?? () from /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-3.0/libkeyboard.so
Title: gnome-settings-daemon crashed with signal 5 in _XReply()
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-02-17 (3 days ago)
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare

[Apport retracing service (apport)]

StacktraceTop:
 XSync (dpy=0xee6830, discard=0) at ../../src/Sync.c:44
 apply_settings (settings=<optimized out>, key=<optimized out>, manager=0x10eb320) at gsd-keyboard-manager.c:263
 g_closure_invoke (closure=0x11c0d20, return_value=0x0, n_param_values=2, param_values=0x7f78dc039f90, invocation_hint=<optimized out>) at /build/buildd/glib2.0-2.31.16/./gobject/gclosure.c:774
 signal_emit_unlocked_R (node=<optimized out>, detail=1549, instance=<optimized out>, emission_return=0x0, instance_and_params=0x7f78dc039f90) at /build/buildd/glib2.0-2.31.16/./gobject/gsignal.c:3302
 g_signal_emit_valist (instance=<optimized out>, signal_id=<optimized out>, detail=<optimized out>, var_args=0x7ffffae93b08) at /build/buildd/glib2.0-2.31.16/./gobject/gsignal.c:3033

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Romano Giannetti (romano-giannetti)]

I hit (probably) the same bug --- made connecting to my PC via VNC practically impossible.
Ubuntu 12.10, using gnome-shell. After a few minutes of remote VNC operation (using JumpDesktop from an iPad), gnome-settings-daemon crashes, and after that all the applications come out "ugly".
Worse still, logout-login did not solve the problem, because now gnome-shell didn't start again (respawning too fast), reboot needed.
I do not have a track (yet) so I am not sure this is the same bug --- but it's easily reproducible. I will try to trigger it when I have a bit of spare time and report the track.
Nasty.