I think doing what we did before solved the "couldn't create GLX context.quit" problem and now all we need to do is figure out the segmentation fault error...

i think the preceding procedures fixed the glx context.quit error, now we only need to fix the segmentation fault problem...

Did you re-install the ATI drivers after EVERYTHING? Kind of like installing alsa from source after an kernel install to ensure that you're using the most recent version of those drivers. Also sometimes fglrx the kernel module for ATIs drivers doesn't install by default (depending on how you install the drivers). So you might need to compile those by hand and cp the fglrx.ko to /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/char/drm/fglrx.ko and other trickery to assemble your kit car to function as a car and not like a bunch of parts in a box.

ok thank you I'll see what I can do
also- i did aticonfig --initial to see if that would fix anything- instead it crashed my video so all i got was random lines and dots- so i restored the original xorg.conf file and sure enough- it worked---however to learn from the experience i opened my xorg.conf file and to my utter dismay found that it was empty- could this contribute to graphical malaise and what should I do?

OK I went to the ati site and manually downloaded-installed drivers because driver fglrx wasn't working although VESA was...
I changed the graphics driver from VESA back to fglrx in my xorg.conf- rebooted the comp and---IT WORKS!!! I have some new problems but I've seen posts on them somewhere else on the web---namely direct rendering is still off and there are still some problems with dolphin---however these are beyond the scope of this thread...thank you so much for all your help I am extremely grateful for all the time you have spent helping me. Also, now my glxinfo displays in its full glory all its info- it doesnt stop after a quarter page and doesnt segfault anywhere...I am now considering this thread officially solved!

Also I am eventually planning on writing a guide on how to configure debian(and possibly linux in general) with an ati graphics card

Well some notes I suppose.

$ lsmod | grep -i "fglrx"

You should see an entry in lsmod for fglrx if you have it loaded.

$ ls -l /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/char/drm/fglrx.ko

The date/time stamp should match when you installed your ATI driver last. If not you might be using mismatched versions of the driver. Just one possible source for issues.

$ strings /usr/lib/libGL.so.1.2 | grep -i "ati"

There should be a bunch of gl*ATI entries if you're using the ATI version of libGL. If you're not, then another source of issues. And probably why dri is NOT yes.

In /etc/X11/xorg.conf
#-----
Section "DRI"
Group "video"
Mode 0660
EndSection
#-----

Without this entry you may only have DRI as ROOT. Which can be problematic. Just of few of the technical issues associated with ATI's driver(s). nVidia in comparison just gets picky about which driver you downloaded (32bit / 64bit) and IF your kernel is setup for nVidia. I can't remember if it's ATI or nVidia that had this issue, but DRM in the kernel needed to be a module for things to "work" right. In this case some acronym for direct rendering, not digital rights.

HTH