[A4] A4 Tiptronic won't shift out of park

[Kent McLean]

The honeymoon is over.

I went to move my '99 A4 Tiptronic today, but when I tried to shift into 
reverse, the shifter wouldn't budge out of park.  My foot was firmly on the 
brake. The little "press the brake pedal" light on the console goes out when I 
press on the brake. The button on the shifter to release the shift lock presses 
in (what I think to be) "enough". But the shift lever won't move out of Park.

a. Is it something simple like like a brake switch having failed?

b. Is it something simple that I can disable without ripping anything apart?

c. Suggestions other than "buy a Honda".

P.S. I have the Bentley for the A4 on CD, but I haven't been able to get it 
working on my Vista laptop (dual boot with Ubuntu Linux).

-- 
Kent McLean
'99 A4 Avant, w/ quattro, V6, Tiptronic, :(
'94 100 S Avant, "Moody"
'91 200 TQA #1, undecided
'91 200 TQA #2, up in smoke 2
'89 200 TQ, "Bad Puppy", up in smoke