wi fi - Can't access tethered server from Android browser. (Time out or "URL blocked")

Synopsis: Trying to access local web development server connected by WiFi to Android tether. Everything seems to be connected and operating correctly, but phone's web browser times out when accessing local server.

Context: I've got an Android device running android-wifi-tether. It works as advertised. I connect to it from my Ubuntu 12.04 laptop running Apache 2.2.22. The laptop is manually configured to IP 192.168.2.100 in the hosts file. It can ping itself and access it's own web server through that address.

The WiFi tether hotspot gives the laptop the same 192.168.2.100 address(Laptop was configured to match the hotspot address as a troubleshooting step, and could be wrong.) Using ping I can ping the laptop from the phone using the 192.168.2.100 address. Using portscan the phone shows port 80 open on the 192.168.2.100 address.

So, everything looks like it's in place, but any attempt to browse to http://192.168.2.100 fails after a few moments with a 504(Gateway time out)

Any help would certainly be help.

Update: I've install SSH and migrated to Nginx on the server. Portscan now shows ports 22 and 80 open. Using ConnectBot I can login and get my own shell on the server machine by IP address. This should indicate that the network is functioning properly.

I've also install the Dolphin browser on the phone to help verify that it's not an issue with the browser. Still I am curious if the browser is actually looking for the address first within the hotspot's IP space, or if it's looking to the internet, where that address will always time out.

I am very new to the Android scene. I would really appreciate some feedback as to how to get my phone browsing a tethered server. The workflow I'm looking for makes connection to a local server critical.

Thanks again.

Solution As I assumed, due to HTTP Proxy settings the web request was bypassing local addresses. I found that if I changed the tether network to 10.* IP range my provider responded with "access to this url has been blocked." That made it evident that something was blocking some requests, and more than likely also leaving the others to die out in the unroutable nether-net. Used HTTP Proxy Settings to clear out HTTP Proxy address.

Answer

Problem may be caused by HTTP Proxy server. Proxies help to manage web traffic on the providers end, but can and probably will disrupt access to local addresses. Proxy options may be available in your network settings, but on many phones these options are hidden. An app such as HTTP Proxy Settings will give access to the hidden settings. Simply clear out the hostname and port for un-proxied access. Make sure to write down original values so changes can be undone.