In DietPi_Pinebook-ARMv8-Trixie.img.xz Initial DietPi_Update can't find wifi on pinebook

Troubleshooting
1

Creating a bug report/issue

I have searched the existing open and closed issues

Required Information

  • DietPi version | 9.20.1
  • Distro version | trixie
  • Kernel version | Linux DietPi 6.12.58-current-sunxi64 #1 SMP Thu Nov 12 20:34:41 UTC 2025 aarch64 GNU/Linux
  • Architecture | arm64
  • SBC model | Pinebook (aarch64)
  • Power supply used | builtin
  • SD card used | Amazon basics 256GB

Additional Information (if applicable)

  • Software title | DietPi-Update
  • Initial install
  • Can this issue be replicated on a fresh installation of DietPi?
    ← If you sent a “dietpi-bugreport”, please paste the ID here →
  • Bug report ID | echo $G_HW_UUID

Steps to reproduce

  1. install Pinebook-ARMv8-Trixie.img.xz on SD
  2. Boot Pinebook

Expected behaviour

  • should be able to find the Wifi

Actual behaviour

  • Wifi driver errors. It wants to use module 8723bs, but that’s not found. I tried substituting rtw88_8723cs in dietpi-set_hardware, but that gave errors.
  • rtw8723cs mmc1:0001:1: mac power on failed
    rtw8723cs mmc1:0001:1: failed to power on mac
    rtw8723cs mmc1:0001:1: failed to setup chip efuse info
    rtw8723cs mmc1:0001:1: failed to setup chip information
    rtw8723cs mmc1:0001:1: probe with driver rtw8723cs failed with error -114
    rtw8723cs mmc1:0001:1: modprobe rtw8723cs

dmesg also had this
rtw88_8723cs: unknown parameter “rtw_power_mgnt”

  • and many sdio read32 failed (various addresses)
    and a few sdio write8 failed
    WOW Firmware version 11.0.0, H2C version 0

Extra details

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2

I found a recent reddit thread this. It looks like Armbian and others may also be affected. The workaround mentioned for dietpi was to skip wifi and use a USB ethernet dongle. Armbian from 8/31/2023 was the last before the drivers got broken.

https://www.reddit.com/r/PINE64official/comments/1qcnxkm/any_working_os_for_original_pinebook/

3

Wifi works in DietPi Bookworm from 2026, so I guess the problem is the drivers or firmware in Trixie.

https://dietpi.com/downloads/images/DietPi_Pinebook-ARMv8-Bookworm.img.xz

4

Since the pinebook wifi worked in bookworm I thought maybe I could just swap out the 6.12.58 kernel in the Trixie image for the 6.12.66 kernel in bookworm. So I checked what files were listed in the kernel and dtb package info files (/var/lib/dpkg/info/linux-image-current-sunxi64.list and /var/lib/dpkg/info/linux-dtb-current-sunxi64.list) and copied the bookworm kernel files over to the Trixie SD card. Then I changed the softlinks in /boot for Image, dtb, and initrd.img to point to the bookworm files. This seems to have worked. The Trixie SD booted the pinebook with working wifi and proceeded to complete the dietpi-config.