I have tried it with and without a parralell cable, modded length of cable, all of the symptoms are the same. Chip detects as 0x0900 when enabled and 0xDDDD when disabled. To me that says that SOME type of information is being read, since it changes when the chip is disabled.
As for my settings, I have tried EVERY DIFFERENT combination of settings on my laptop AND desktop PC. Different IRQ's and I have set no interrupt and followed all the guides on every site.
I may cut my losses and get another chip I guess.