Perhaps, going for another programmer, may be a futile exercise. always try with Mclr pin enabled in the program and if possible with crystal oscillator(not internal)
May a time we miss, the same mistake , even on repeated check. a situation of 'no err or warning message ' doent mean that the program we wrote, need perform as you thought.
i remember some saying, that a program would do what is written there, but not what the writer wishes.
All you might need is trial with conventional pins used on working examples, later on you may try changing pins used for LCD display.