My version of XP has Service Pack 1 integrated... An yes, mIRC is running in the background while the error message is up.. If I move the error window to the side.. I can actually talk with people on a channel.. It closes when I close the error window.
sometimes it is possible to get a bad download from microsoft of the service pack or many upgrades ...... u can uninstal the updates and try reinstalling them to make certain thats not an issue .....
I saw the attached post and tried something mentioned there... Options>Local Info> unchecked both boxes under "on connect, always get:" Then I could connect without the error.. I then re-checked both boxes and it still works fine!!