Yeah, try using another IRC client, or try different settings on your router.
Okay, you have XP, so you can't reinstall the winsock. (Doing so would break your system configuration).
FYI: winsock is just the networking layer of windows - it allows programs to create connections on the internet or any other network interface, and use them.
I get 10053's quite a bit on my connection, I don't have any routers or anything but I think it's some problems with the ISP (if I use proxies or anything else it usually works fine).