--- a/src/glx/create_context.c
+++ b/src/glx/create_context.c
@@ -115,6 +115,9 @@ glXCreateContextAttribsARB(Display *dpy,
 #endif
 
    if (gc == NULL) {
+      /* increment dpy->request in order to give a unique serial number to the
+       * error */
+      XNoOp(dpy);
       /* -1 isn't a legal XID, which is sort of the point, we've failed
        * before we even got to XID allocation.
        */