NanoPi Neo Air - DietPi v9.19.2 - Bluetooth broken - kernel lacks bnep-protocol support

Troubleshooting
1

Creating a bug report/issue

I have searched the existing open and closed issues

Required Information

  • DietPi version | cat /boot/dietpi/.version
  • G_DIETPI_VERSION_CORE=9
G_DIETPI_VERSION_SUB=19
G_DIETPI_VERSION_RC=2
G_GITBRANCH='master'
G_GITOWNER='MichaIng'
  • Distro version | echo $G_DISTRO_NAME $G_RASPBIAN
  • trixie
  • Kernel version | uname --all
  • Linux NanoSauna 6.12.57-current-sunxi #1 SMP Sun Nov  2 13:15:23 UTC 2025 armv7l GNU/Linux
  • Architecture | dpkg --print-architecture
  • armhf
  • SBC model | echo $G_HW_MODEL_NAME or (EG: RPi3)
  • NanoPi NEO Air (armv7l)
  • Power supply used | (EG: 5V 1A RAVpower)
  • 5V 1A RAVpower
  • SD card used | (EG: SanDisk ultra)
  • SanDisk Ultra 32GB

Additional Information (if applicable)

  • Software title | (EG: Nextcloud)

  • systemctl status bluetooth

  • Was the software title installed freshly or updated/migrated?

  • Fresh installation

  • Can this issue be replicated on a fresh installation of DietPi?

  • Yes, I have 2 NanoPi Neo Air's both acts same way

    ← If you sent a “dietpi-bugreport”, please paste the ID here →

  • Bug report ID | echo $G_HW_UUID

  • 42c47349-19cf-45bb-9307-e27f385027d6

Steps to reproduce

  1. …
  2. dietpi-config -> enable bluetooth

  3. systemctl status bluetooth

root@NanoSauna:~#  systemctl status bluetooth
● bluetooth.service - Bluetooth service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sun 2025-11-30 18:52:43 EET; 3min 15s ago
 Invocation: 8f784919a7ad4a77b7a0e345cc8627db
       Docs: man:bluetoothd(8)
   Main PID: 8196 (bluetoothd)
     Status: "Running"
      Tasks: 1 (limit: 875)
     Memory: 900K (peak: 1.8M)
        CPU: 214ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/bluetooth.service
             └─8196 /usr/libexec/bluetooth/bluetoothd

Nov 30 18:52:43 NanoSauna systemd[1]: Starting bluetooth.service - Bluetooth service...
Nov 30 18:52:43 NanoSauna (uetoothd)[8196]: bluetooth.service: ConfigurationDirectory 'bluetooth' already exists but the mode is different. (File system: 755 ConfigurationDirectoryMode: 555)
Nov 30 18:52:43 NanoSauna bluetoothd[8196]: Bluetooth daemon 5.82
Nov 30 18:52:43 NanoSauna bluetoothd[8196]: Starting SDP server
Nov 30 18:52:43 NanoSauna bluetoothd[8196]: profiles/network/bnep.c:bnep_init() kernel lacks bnep-protocol support
Nov 30 18:52:43 NanoSauna systemd[1]: Started bluetooth.service - Bluetooth service.
Nov 30 18:52:43 NanoSauna bluetoothd[8196]: Bluetooth management interface 1.23 initialized
Nov 30 18:53:29 NanoSauna systemd[1]: Started bluetooth.service - Bluetooth service.

  1. root@NanoSauna:~# hcitool dev
Devices:
root@NanoSauna:~# rfkill list
0: hci0: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
root@NanoSauna:~#

Expected behaviour

Bluetooth-command hcitool lescan or dev should work like on older DietPi version.
Older version, same HW (NanoPi Neo Air):
miha@Vardel:~$ uname --all
Linux Vardel 6.6.44-current-sunxi #1 SMP Sat Aug 3 06:54:42 UTC 2024 armv7l GNU/Linux
miha@Vardel:~$ hcitool dev
Devices:
hci0 50:41:1C:83:09:CB
miha@Vardel:~$ cat /boot/dietpi/.version
G_DIETPI_VERSION_CORE=9
G_DIETPI_VERSION_SUB=11
G_DIETPI_VERSION_RC=2
G_GITBRANCH=‘master’
G_GITOWNER=‘MichaIng’

  • …

Actual behaviour

  • …

Extra details

  • …
2

Tried with, in total, THREE different NanoPi Neo Air’s and each time BT fails to work. Unfortunately older DietPi-versions are no longer available for DL, with older versions the BT worked perfectly.