1. A machine implemented method for executing instructions during an initialization process out of a non-volatile memory having at least a defective block within a memory partition, comprising: determining if a valid signature is available at an expected offset of the memory partition; wherein a processor determines if the valid signature is available; continuing to read X more blocks from the expected offset if the valid signature is unavailable before the expected offset, the X blocks being a defective number of blocks within the memory partition and the processor continues to read the X blocks; initializing a computing system by executing the instructions, if the valid signature is available within one of the X blocks; and aborting the initialization process if the valid signature is unavailable within one of the X blocks.