problems connecting to android wifi hostpot (tethering)

Hi all,

I have an early 2011 macbook pro, with OSX 10.6.8.
When at home I usually connect to the internet through the hotspot feature of
an android tablet.
This used to work perfectly until two days ago.
The network used to be "open" (no security), but only allowed device could connect (my notebook and a few others).

Since a couple of days, my macbook is no able to connect to my tablet's wifi network,
although it sees a pretty strong signal.
When I try to connect, the small "wheel" in the airport popup window briefly spins, and then a timeout message appears.

I tried "allow all devices to connect" (i.e. removing mac address based restrictions), but it did not work.
I tried WPA2 PSK security, but it did not work (although my mac recognized that the network was now password protected)
I tried changing the ssid (name) of the network. Nothing worked.

The problem does not seem to be with the androd network. I can connect to it e.g. with my or my girlfriend's phone (both android devices, though), and her laptop (windows7)

Also, my mac can connect to other wifi networks.

It seems to be a mac vs android network problem.

Has anyone any idea about this. It's driving me crazy, and I really need to be able to connect to the android hotspot.

Thanks a lot for any help
Francesco

Has anyone any idea about this. It's driving me crazy, and I really need to be able to connect to the android hotspot.

Click to expand...

Try going into System Preferences, Network, Advanced, and remove the previous connections you setup. Create a new connection to see if that works. It sounds like your MacBook Pro is not getting an IP address from the Android hotspot. You can also try the built in troubleshooter from your Mac: "Assist Me".

Hi chscag,

and thank you very much for the advice. I'll try deleting my previous connections, which are actually a lot.

As to the troubleshooter, It did not occur to me to use it in this case, because i am not even able to connect.
I have use in the past, e.g. when I could not go on the internet despite being connected to a network. In that cases I had some "green lights" and some "red lights" in the tool.

I'll try that as well

Thanks a lot again
Francesco