Intermittant wont start

Hello I have a 98 Malibu v6 and i am having problems starting the car. this is what it does, put the key in and try to start. The car cranks but it wont start. wait about 30secs to a minute try it again it starts. One thing i notice is originally when i try to start it, none of the idiot lights come on. then after the 30 seconds or so, the idiot lights come on and the headlights and viola it starts. shut the car off the same thing happens.

NOTE the car has a remote starter, and everytime i try to start it with remote starter it starts, on the first try, everytime. It always start first time with the remote.

Thinking the remote might be the problem I totally disconnected it and tried it without the remote connected and i get the same thing no start and no idiot lights.

Any Ideas?

FWIW, I've never heard anything good about remote starters that were installed by the dealer or whoever. I've seen them with mysterious battery draining issues, crap-shoot starting and an electrical fire in one case.

Try to find who installed it and go back to them, hopefully they have some experience with problems like yours.

Obviously its not the remote causing the problem, or else it would work when disconnected.

Any other ideas?

The key here is the inst gages not coming on, I would suspect the ign. switch here, but check for power to pcm at the main fuse box when it won't start.

The key here is the inst gages not coming on, I would suspect the ign. switch here, but check for power to pcm at the main fuse box when it won't start.
The Ignition switch was checked and it works fine. There is power to the PCM at the fuse box.

It seems there is a passlock sensor on the key cylinder that might be defective. does anyone know if this can be bought separtely. GM wants $300 for it. According to GM they have complaints of keys sticking in the cylinder and has to be replaced.