i just so happen to have just erased and reprogramed it but i didn't get any errors when it was doin so. i even got it to verify the burn to the chip and it came back OK including the blank check.
when i disconnect and reconnect back the diode the motor jumps to life for 1 second then nothing.. the diode heats up from there. but have a look at the original schematics from the book (attached drawing.jpg) the author did not include any transistors in between the chip and motors.
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