Help shift doesn’t light up

THe panel is not part of the Transmission. It may be a failed back light or it may be something worse.. If you are able to shift and drive they call it a PRiNDL

That stands for
Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive, Low (often two lows) P R N D 2 1

You can count to 3 and drive it to the shop if it will let you.

Of course if there is no power to the Transmission.. It might not let you drive.

There is a test procedure described in the dash board owner's manual.

I’m not stranded but was about to leave. Can’t even crank it up with no power to the panel

Most likely you have an Allison tranny and you are talking about the shift pad. There is a 12v power wire from the Engine Control Unit (ECU) to the key pad that powers it up. Quite possibly that wire has broken somewhere. The ECU is in the rear and the shift pad is in the front. Lots of places it can be broken. A service shop can check that out and even run a new wire.

I found the 12v relay box and the tcm , both under the keypad. the relay box has 2 fuses inside, both good. one has power, the other doesnt. when I jump 12v from one fuse to the other it lights up and I can crank it.... trying to decide if this means the tcm is bad or not?