I can reproduce this when using the nvidia driver and offloading rendering to it using RandR on an NVIDIA Optimus system. This is what nvidia-prime does and what NVIDIA suggests on their website.
I've assigned the bug report to both the nvidia driver and the modesettings driver since they are both used. The modesettings driver is the one which ultimately deals with RandR (and therefore the gnome- settings-daemon). ** Also affects: xserver-xorg-video-modesetting (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: New ** Also affects: nvidia-graphics-drivers-319 (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: New ** Changed in: nvidia-graphics-drivers-319 (Ubuntu) Status: New => Triaged ** Changed in: xserver-xorg-video-modesetting (Ubuntu) Status: New => Triaged ** Changed in: gnome-settings-daemon (Ubuntu) Status: Confirmed => Invalid ** Changed in: nvidia-graphics-drivers-319 (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided => Medium ** Changed in: xserver-xorg-video-modesetting (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided => Medium -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to gnome-settings-daemon in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1224254 Title: xrandr Xerrors with the nvidia binary drivers Status in “gnome-settings-daemon” package in Ubuntu: Invalid Status in “nvidia-graphics-drivers-319” package in Ubuntu: Triaged Status in “xserver-xorg-video-modesetting” package in Ubuntu: Triaged Bug description: New install of 13.10 on HP envy 17t j000 ProblemType: Crash DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10 Package: gnome-settings-daemon 3.8.5-0ubuntu2 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-7.13-generic 3.11.0 Uname: Linux 3.11.0-7-generic x86_64 NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia ApportVersion: 2.12.1-0ubuntu3 Architecture: amd64 CrashCounter: 1 Date: Wed Sep 11 20:48:40 2013 ExecutablePath: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon/gnome-settings-daemon InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-09-08 (3 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Alpha amd64 (20130908) MarkForUpload: True ProcCmdline: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon/gnome-settings-daemon ProcEnviron: PATH=(custom, no user) XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set> LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/false 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 gdk_flush () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgdk-3.so.0 Title: [xrandr]: gnome-settings-daemon crashed with signal 5 in _XReply() UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) UserGroups: To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-settings-daemon/+bug/1224254/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp