It starts to crank but then goes to a whing noise.

Winning? Whining? Whinge-ing?

If you are "short" of transmission oil, then the normal "meshing" of the gears will be much louder, since the there is no oil to lubricate nor to muffle the usual noise.

Can I get some more info

Bad steering rack & or steering pump

Try flushing the fluid, as you should be doing every 3
years on all vehicles

After that-- have to diagnose & start changing parts-- if
you don't like the noise

make sure your power steering fluid is ok this is a litle harder to inspect as the resivour is located at the power steering pump could also be a bad pully or belt on your drive belt for your alt power steering and water pump as well as the a/c circuits any of these could make a whinny noise its the process of elimation

check the power steering fluid.

is it when the ignition is on? or when the engine is running?

I could be. It is not the ring & pinion for that noise stays around all the time

sounds like syncro bearings in trans

Check your tranny fluid It sounds like to me you are have transmisson problems

some gm products from this era had a crank pulley separation issue ........noise and improper crank sensor readings are some of the things this can cause so you are going to want to check that
hope this helps........Good luck!