1995 montero hold mode HELP

[Holsomback1]

I'll give the quick run down. I just bought a Montero 136k miles (love everything about it and a monster off road) the transmission shift great but when i am in drive it will not go into 1st geat only starts out in 2nd (like its stuck in hold mode) you can manually put it in first gear then put it in drive to start out but still will not shift down to first on its own. When i flip the A/T swith it will light up hold mode on the dash flip it to auto or power mode and the light on the dash goes out(telling me the truck knows to come out of hold mode) but nothing changes. I really need help i dont even know where to begin to look

 

[nwoods]

Is the hold button engaged? It’s on the flat part of the center console, near the ash tray. Sounds silly, but I made the same mistake a couple years ago, and finally discovered that the button was pushed in. Doh!

 

[Holsomback1]

Unfortunately its not ive flipped a few time on and off and the hold light on the dash is off when i switch it off