Attenuating lighting?

I am creating terrain from a gray-map file and I need to be able to zoom the light source towards and away from the landscape. I can zoom the light source but I am having trouble adding attenuation to the light source (ie the farther away the less intense the light). As soon as I add values to the attenuation parameters I lose all lighting and shading. Has anybody else had a problem like this and/or have any idea why it is happening. Thanks.

what values are you using?

constant 1.5
linear 0.5
quadratic 0.2

check the equation
i believe its constant + linear*2 + QUADRATIC^2 or something
i wrote a little ±30kb glut app that i can send to u which might be of use
sexybastard@1234xtra.co.nz for it (minus 1234)