Should I disable DHCP server when assigning static (local) IPs to my computers?

[KillrBuckeye]

I recently enabled static local IPs for my 3 computers for the convenience of using Remote Desktop and SSH. I followed a guide I found on the internet, and it seemed to work pretty well. However, I have a couple of questions.

First, should I disable the DHCP server on the router now? My understanding is that this feature simply autoassigns IPs to computers connected to the network. If I am using static IPs, does this feature actually do anything?

The second question might be related to the first one. My wife's computer is the only one that has a wireless connection. For some reason, now that I've enabled a static IP on her computer, it loses wireless connectivity after a reboot and the old method of reconnecting doesn't work. (I have Wireless Zero service disabled on her computer because of frequent drops/reconnects, and I was using the WirelessFiXP utility to enable/disable the Wireless Zero service just to acquire a connection.) Now the WirelessFiXP utility does not work to restore the connection. The only thing that seems to work now is to leave on the Wireless Zero service, which is undesirable to me.

Any help you could provide would be appreciated.

[6ghztofreedom]

You have to leave the Wireless Zero Configuration service enabled if you wish to use Windows to control your wireless connection.

As for the first question yes you can Disable DHCP now that you have Static IPs. The only thing is it will not be able to assign anyone else an IP, say if one of your friends came over with a laptop. In that case leave it enabled

[ErikD]

There really is no big difference in having DHCP enabled even if you don't use it. The only advantage would be for security, you need to manually assign all IP information to any PC which joins the network.

I have had better luck just using Windows to handle wireless connections. Just install the drivers for your card, and let Windows XP SP2 handle the connections.

[KillrBuckeye]

I was wondering if the DHCP thingy was causing my wife's computer to fail to connect sometimes. The reason I don't use Wireless Zero is because it disconnects/reconnects instantaneously every so often, causing a huge lag spike if I'm playing a multiplayer FPS game online (this doesn't happen when I use the WirelessFiXP utility). Since I don't play on her computer often, I guess I can just go back to Wireless Zero.

[Centurion]

I did something similar. I wanted MY computers on the network to have a static IP, but new computers that connected to get it assigned. So I have 8 devices (192.168.1.101 - 192.168.1.108) all static. So I told DHCP to start assigning IP's starting with 192.168.1.109, then there is no possible way you could have an IP conflict. Hope this makes sense.

[~(o)-(0)~]

yeah that's what I did, I assigned my range from x.x.x.100 to x.x.x.200 and assigned any static IPs to something under the 100 mark, that way I can keep my static IPs and not have any conflicts