Constant cranking

[attrapereves]

This has happened twice recently. Once when I was leaving work and once when my wife was practicing driving and was trying to restart the car after stalling.

I push in the clutch pedal, have the car in neutral, then turn the key to start the car. I keep getting cranking, but the car never starts. If I turn the key off, then attempt to start again, it fires up fine.

I thought maybe the transponder system for the keys was going bad, or the cutoff switch in the clutch. But if that were true, I don't think I'd get cranking at all.

Right now it's not a big concern as it's only happened twice, but if it starts occurring more often, I really need to look into the cause.

Any help?