At-risk memory location identification and management

A method to identify at-risk volatile memory locations, the method comprising:

• obtaining a volatile memory device which is configured to identify at least one of its own at-risk volatile memory locations, the volatile memory device including volatile memory cells having respective failure susceptibility values, the volatile memory cells including at least one bad or at-risk volatile memory location and including multiple other not-at-risk volatile memory locations, the bad or at-risk volatile memory location having a greater failure susceptibility value than the not-at-risk volatile memory locations, the volatile memory device also including within itself a nonvolatile identification of the bad or at-risk volatile memory location;
• reading the nonvolatile identification from the volatile memory device;
• and
• utilizing the nonvolatile identification to perform at least one of the following:
• check whether the nonvolatile identification matches memory test results which were generated by testing the volatile memory cells of the volatile memory device,
• place an at-risk volatile memory location on a watch list identifying one or more volatile memory cells to be monitored for memory errors,
• repair a volatile memory cell that is located at an at-risk volatile memory location,
• exclude a volatile memory cell that is located at a bad or at-risk volatile memory location from holding data within a computing system, or
• exclude the volatile memory device from holding data within a computing system.

A method to identify at-risk volatile memory locations, the method comprising:

• obtaining a volatile memory device, the volatile memory device including volatile memory cells;
• ascertaining respective failure susceptibility values for the volatile memory cells, the volatile memory cells thereby including at least one at-risk volatile memory location and including multiple other not-at-risk volatile memory locations, the at-risk volatile memory location having a greater failure susceptibility value than the not-at-risk volatile memory locations;
• and
• entering a nonvolatile identification of the at-risk volatile memory location into the volatile memory device, thereby configuring the volatile memory device to identify within itself the at-risk volatile memory location, the nonvolatile identification readable from outside the volatile memory device.