Browsers don’t seem to see the host file

HI everyone.

I’m looking to move a number of sites from our old VPS to our new dedicated server.

I want to move the WP site and the db over and then set up my host file to point at the new server for the corresponding domain name to test the site out before really pointing the domain name at the site.

However I have tried this and it doesn’t seem to work. I have done a ping on the domain name and it comes back with the ip that i set up in the host file (great stuff), but the browser doesn’t seem to see the host file. I have flushed the dns, but the browser still goes to the old location.

Tried it both on a mac & a pc. Does WP redirect the browser some how?

Can anyone help?