I have 2 box, one Win98 laptop, one W2k Professional desktop.

I am sharing a cable modem connection on the 2000 box.

If both machines are running and using the internet, and my 2000 box gets rebooted or crashes, the 98 box has to be rebooted to get to the internet again. Should the connection be reestablished after my W2k box comes back up?

try opening winipcfg on 98 and renewing the ip address.