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[on:]

I use eeprom in Atmega chip to record some data and I wonder what will happen after reach eeprom's life,
the chip still work but can not record any data or the chip just stop working?

Thanks in advance,

[Reply #1 on:]

The processor will carry on working, but you won't be able to rely on any values read from EEPROM.

[Reply #2 on:]

That's unlikely to happen unless you get in some kind of loop that writes to the same address continually, for 100,000+ times.
A write cycle takes 3.3mS, so you'd have to be writing the same address for over 5.5 Minutes. Hopefully  you'd something odd about your program before then

[Reply #3 on:]

Thanks you so much for the response,
I need to know this in order to evaluate lifetime of my project.
Another question I would like to know is
What is the normal lifetime of an arduino board?
I means if I use it in normal condition, will it work for 3-5 years?

[Reply #4 on:]

Long time.   No moving parts.
If you are not overstressing the outputs or running the voltage regulator from excessive voltage, no reason it should fail.
I have 15 running at my fencing club, powered up 4 times a week for a couple hours at a time since Dec 2010.  No problems.
Others have them running 24 hours a day.

3-5 years should not be a problem.

[Reply #5 on:]

The Arduino (Diecimila) running the status LCD in my home server, and it's peripheral parts have been running close to 24/7 for the last 3 years. I find that in general the only things that causes problems over time are program flaws, and running the hardware out of spec.