The present invention is related to the repair of defective items where the defect symptom does not readily suggest the action to repair the item. Test and repair technicians isolate and repair defects. The defect symptom repair
system provides a means for the technicians to
pool their experience without extensive effort and to make their experience readily available. The defect symptom repair
system is implemented as a
web server on
the Internet and easily accessible with use of web enabled devices. A defect symptom repair
web server provides defect symptoms and associated repair actions. Each
repair action has an effectiveness indicator. The defect symptom is match with the observed symptom. A
repair action associated with the defect symptom is selected based on the effectiveness indicator. The
repair action is applied to the item. The result, success or failure, is entered into the defect symptom repair
web server and the effectiveness indicator of the repair action is computed including the most recent result. If the observed symptom does not match a defect symptom from the
server, a defect symptom is created in the
server. If a new repair action for a defect symptom is attempted, a repair action is added and the effectiveness indicator is calculated based on the result of the repair action attempt.