Configuring Thompson wireless router to use static ip to local server

[#1]

I've just moved to plus.net. Previously I had an eTec ADSL router with a single connction to
my server box, using a static IP address. I am currently accessing the internet from my
laptop using the wireless port, but cannot access the internet from my server. I have set
up a static IP address in the router with the ip address (192.168.1.12) assigned to my
server but get no response, though a ping to 192.168.1.254 (router) makes the
ethernet light flash. Also, any attempt to access 192.168.1.12 from my browser on
the laptop brings up the router login dialog.
Any suggestions as to how I can get his working?
Bill

[#2]

I bet the router has assigned an address to you via DHCP.
ifconfig will show your actual ip address.

[#3]

Thanks for the suggestion, but no go. 
My server isn't set up for DHCP. It's not something I've used before, so I'll need to do some digging.
Does CUPS find my printers dynamically, or do I need to login and re-search every time the router
assigns the server a new IP? I also use explicit host names, listed in /etc/hosts to access the
servers. Will the router sort that out, once I can get DHCP working on them.
At present ifconfig shows the IP as 192.168.1.0, which is not a valid host address. My config
should set it to 192.168.0.12, which is outside the range used by DHCP, but something has
obviously tweaked it to ...0.

[#4]

I've configured my servers to run DHCP over ethernet to the router and can now
use Secure Shell to communicate between them. I've not been able to get
CUPS to find my printers, though. Any suggestions?

[#5]

You can see all the CUPS documentation and configuration by entering http://192.168.1.5:631 into your browser, where the http://192.168.1.5 is your PC's IP address.
(i.e. use port 631).