"'gnome-settings-daemon' received an X Window System error" and missing icons

The theme does not load correctly: the menu bar at the top is a light gray, some icons for launchers on the left are missing and the overall appearance of gtk applications looks like a Windows 95 theme. I can post a screenshot if that helps.

The problem exists on a fresh installation of Ubuntu 11.10 (64-bit). I'm not completely sure the unity package is to blame for this; apologies if I should have specified a different package. I am willing to do any extra debugging required to fix this.

$ apt-cache policy unity
unity:
  Installed: 4.24.0-0ubuntu2b1
  Candidate: 4.24.0-0ubuntu2b1
  Version table:
 *** 4.24.0-0ubuntu2b1 0
        500 http://ch.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     4.22.0-0ubuntu3 0
        500 http://ch.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric/main amd64 Packages

The following is from ~/.xsession-errors (I have attached the complete file):

[...]

Adding plugins
Skipping upgrade com.canonical.unity.unity.01.upgrade
Skipping upgrade com.canonical.unity.unity.02.upgrade
Initializing core options...done

(gnome-settings-daemon:5115): Gdk-WARNING **: The program 'gnome-settings-daemon' received an X Window System error.
This probably reflects a bug in the program.
The error was 'BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)'.
  (Details: serial 723 error_code 8 request_code 143 minor_code 22)
  (Note to programmers: normally, X errors are reported asynchronously;
   that is, you will receive the error a while after causing it.
   To debug your program, run it with the --sync command line
   option to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful
   backtrace from your debugger if you break on the gdk_x_error() function.)

[...]

(gnome-settings-daemon:5152): Gdk-WARNING **: The program 'gnome-settings-daemon' received an X Window System error.
This probably reflects a bug in the program.
The error was 'BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)'.
  (Details: serial 680 error_code 8 request_code 143 minor_code 22)
  (Note to programmers: normally, X errors are reported asynchronously;
   that is, you will receive the error a while after causing it.
   To debug your program, run it with the --sync command line
   option to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful
   backtrace from your debugger if you break on the gdk_x_error() function.)

[...]

Failed to play sound: File or data not found
unity-panel-service: no process found
Initializing unityshell options...done
Starting unity-window-decorator
DEBUG 2011-11-15 23:24:22 glib <unknown>:0 Setting to primary screen rect: x=0 y=0 w=1920 h=1080
** Message: moving back from GtkStatusIcon to indicator
WARN 2011-11-15 23:24:22 unity.launcher LauncherIcon.cpp:410 Unable to load 'user-trash' from icon theme:
WARN 2011-11-15 23:24:22 unity.launcher LauncherIcon.cpp:410 Unable to load '. GThemedIcon drive-harddisk-usb drive-harddisk drive' from icon theme:
WARN 2011-11-15 23:24:22 unity.launcher LauncherIcon.cpp:410 Unable to load '. GThemedIcon drive-harddisk-usb drive-harddisk drive' from icon theme:
WARN 2011-11-15 23:24:22 unity.launcher LauncherIcon.cpp:410 Unable to load 'workspace-switcher' from icon theme:

[...]

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: unity 4.24.0-0ubuntu2b1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.20-generic 3.0.4
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 280.13 Wed Jul 27 16:53:56 PDT 2011
 GCC version: gcc version 4.6.1 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.6.1-9ubuntu3)
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu4
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,decor,mousepoll,vpswitch,regex,animation,snap,expo,move,compiztoolbox,place,grid,imgpng,gnomecompat,wall,ezoom,workarounds,resize,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,scale,session,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
Date: Tue Nov 15 23:46:29 2011
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: oneiric
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 nvidia-current, 280.13, 3.0.0-12-generic, x86_64: installed
 virtualbox, 4.1.2, 3.0.0-12-generic, x86_64: installed
GraphicsCard:
 nVidia Corporation GF106 [Quadro 2000M] [10de:0dda] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21cf]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111012)
JockeyStatus:
 xorg:nvidia_current - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Enabled, In use)
 xorg:nvidia_current_updates - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (post-release updates) (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use)
MachineType: LENOVO 4282RC6
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=UUID=71a7ba1d-f61a-4a06-bea5-22c7c7ac1e2a ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
XorgConf:
 Section "Device"
  Identifier "Default Device"
  Option "NoLogo" "True"
 EndSection
dmi.bios.date: 08/16/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 8BET50WW (1.30 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 4282RC6
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr8BET50WW(1.30):bd08/16/2011:svnLENOVO:pn4282RC6:pvrThinkPadW520:rvnLENOVO:rn4282RC6:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 4282RC6
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad W520
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.6+bzr20110929-0ubuntu5
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.26-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 7.11-0ubuntu3
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.11-0ubuntu3
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers N/A
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.6+7ubuntu7
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.6.0-1ubuntu13
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.99~git20110811.g93fc084-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.15.901-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110411+8378443-1