Mysterious exclamation point next to gear selection display

[JPMo]

So driving the zhp today when suddenly I notice the exclamation point appear. Car starts to accelerate very sluggishly from a stop and just doesn't feel right. My car has steptronic so I put it in manual mode but the car would shoft itself up 4th automatically. I've attached a pic of the instrument cluster.

No clue what this means but a quick Google search shows that my tranny may be about to die which is NOT what I need right now as this is my only source of transportation and I'm a student.
Any words of advice or ideas what could be going on?

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[JPMo]

Update: got home turned the car off for a few minutes and restarted it and the warning is gone. Didn't take the car out to test thought

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[fredo]

I remember my 1992 e36 had a similar warning. I can't recall the fix, but for sure it wasn't a new tranny. GL.

[Vas]

Have the car scanned. Should show a transmission code/fault

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[Dave1027]

Limp mode. +1 get car scanned.

[Sicily1918]

Yeah, scan it -- could be as simple as a bad sensor.