Problem connecting to 802.11n router

I've just moved into my cousins house, and I'm trying to connect to their wireless home network.

I'm currently getting the error "Windows is unable to connect to the selected network. The network may no longer be in range. Please refresh the list of available networks, and try to connect again". I am able to connect via LAN no problem.

We think the problem is something to do with my network card on my laptop. (Which is relatively old, a Toshiba Portege form 05/06).

Under the wireless network connection properties, apparently my network card information is this:

Atheros AR5004X Wireless Network Adapter

AEGIS Protocool (IEEE 802.1x) v2.3.1.10

The router I'm trying to connect to uses IEEE 802.11n. It's my understanding that my network card is not compatible with this router as it is too old.

I'm not expert with all this, but is this the issue?

I'm running Windows XP SP3. Would updating to Windows 7 fix the problem, or is it purely a hardware issue?

Are there any solutions or workarounds at all?

thank you...nice post

Can you actually see the Wireless Network i.e. the SSID?, also by any chance did you configure a static IP Address on your Wireless NIC (Connection)?

Most N routers by default are set up to accept connections from B, G, and N WiFi cards for maximum compatibility. Unless they have changed the setting to only allow N cards to connect, then that shouldn't be the problem.

Like Nathan_123 said, make sure you can actually see the SSID of the network. I would delete the wireless profile of that network and try to reconnect.