You can approach software repair in a similar way to electronics repair, except you don't need to replace components, just fix them. Investigate which component is causing the issue, investigate which part of the component is causing the issue, modify/rebuild/reinstall the component, verify that the fix worked, done.
I often feel that way about FOSS in general. The freedom is more 'theoretical' than practical, although FOSS means that such software are much less hostile to users.
I appreciate repairable laptops and electronics more than I appreciate software freedom. The freedom felt more real.