This is all really helpful so thanks.
But still I've done what both of you have suggested and no luck.
kf2qd, I've put in the steps you've suggested and I've also tried this sequence:
1 0 0 0
0 0 0 1
0 1 0 0
0 0 1 0
And in both instances what happens is the motor takes 2 steps forward and two steps back
I am going to read the voltage output from each step, but I feel I've set it up correctly so I am really confused.
I guess I should note that I am trying to make the motor work using maxuino, but I've tried using the stepper example straight from the arduino library and both results are exactly the same