Have you just been trying to run one of the axes or several? It's possible that one or more, but not all, of the outputs on the breakout board are damaged. Do the inputs still work?
There are three ICs near the parallel port connector on your breakout board. Can you read the numbers to identify them? If so we can look at the datasheet and probe the board to see how far the signal is getting.

There's not a lot wrong with wiring the parallel port directly to the stepper drivers, as they're opto-isolated. So long as you wire it up correctly - i.e. outputs to the step+/dir+ inputs and step-/dir- to pin 25. The thing that's probably stopping that method working is the parallel port is only 3.3V, yet the drivers require 5V.

Unless you need particular special features I'd just get a breakout board you're familiar with.