If the EEPROM goes bad, is just the memory locations that have been written to too many times, and by moving somewhere else, the EEPROM is still useable, or needs replacement?
Is the checksum error the usual (only) defective symptom?
The 100,000 number applies to both program and data (SAVE_EEP) areas.
The EEPROM can have a bad data area, but sill be useable in the program area?