diff --git a/pkg/stub/config.go b/pkg/stub/config.go
index 50ad6eaaf..e91695c07 100644
--- a/pkg/stub/config.go
+++ b/pkg/stub/config.go
@@ -17,6 +17,20 @@ func (h *Handler) ClearStatusConfigForRemoved(cfg *v1.Config) {
 	cfg.Status.Architectures = []string{}
 }
 
+func (h *Handler) IsValidArch(cfg *v1.Config) (bool, string) {
+	for _, arch := range cfg.Spec.Architectures {
+		switch arch {
+		case v1.X86Architecture:
+		case v1.AMDArchitecture:
+		case v1.PPCArchitecture:
+		case v1.S390Architecture:
+		default:
+			return false, arch
+		}
+	}
+	return true, ""
+}
+
 func (h *Handler) StoreCurrentValidConfig(cfg *v1.Config) {
 	cfg.Status.SamplesRegistry = cfg.Spec.SamplesRegistry
 	cfg.Status.Architectures = cfg.Spec.Architectures
@@ -28,16 +42,9 @@ func (h *Handler) SpecValidation(cfg *v1.Config) error {
 	// the first thing this should do is check that all the config values
 	// are "valid" (the architecture name is known, the distribution name is known, etc)
 	// if that fails, we should immediately error out and set ConfigValid to false.
-	for _, arch := range cfg.Spec.Architectures {
-		switch arch {
-		case v1.X86Architecture:
-		case v1.AMDArchitecture:
-		case v1.PPCArchitecture:
-		case v1.S390Architecture:
-		default:
-			err := fmt.Errorf("architecture %s unsupported; only support %s", arch, strings.Join([]string{v1.X86Architecture, v1.AMDArchitecture, v1.PPCArchitecture, v1.S390Architecture}, ","))
-			return h.processError(cfg, v1.ConfigurationValid, corev1.ConditionFalse, err, "%v")
-		}
+	if valid, badArch := h.IsValidArch(cfg); !valid {
+		err := fmt.Errorf("architecture %s unsupported; only support %s", badArch, strings.Join([]string{v1.X86Architecture, v1.AMDArchitecture, v1.PPCArchitecture, v1.S390Architecture}, ","))
+		return h.processError(cfg, v1.ConfigurationValid, corev1.ConditionFalse, err, "%v")
 	}
 
 	// only if the values being requested are valid, should we then proceed to check
diff --git a/pkg/stub/handler.go b/pkg/stub/handler.go
index e894088b1..5c2b97bc2 100644
--- a/pkg/stub/handler.go
+++ b/pkg/stub/handler.go
@@ -122,12 +122,12 @@ type Handler struct {
 	templateclientwrapper TemplateClientWrapper
 	secretclientwrapper   SecretClientWrapper
 
-	crdlister        configv1lister.ConfigLister
-	streamlister     imagev1lister.ImageStreamNamespaceLister
-	tplstore         templatev1lister.TemplateNamespaceLister
+	crdlister           configv1lister.ConfigLister
+	streamlister        imagev1lister.ImageStreamNamespaceLister
+	tplstore            templatev1lister.TemplateNamespaceLister
 	opshiftsecretlister corev1lister.SecretNamespaceLister
-	cfgsecretlister  corev1lister.SecretNamespaceLister
-	opersecretlister corev1lister.SecretNamespaceLister
+	cfgsecretlister     corev1lister.SecretNamespaceLister
+	opersecretlister    corev1lister.SecretNamespaceLister
 
 	Fileimagegetter    ImageStreamFromFileGetter
 	Filetemplategetter TemplateFromFileGetter
@@ -697,6 +697,16 @@ func (h *Handler) Handle(event util.Event) error {
 			}
 		}
 
+		validArch, _ := h.IsValidArch(cfg)
+		if validArch && util.IsNonX86Arch(cfg) && cfg.Spec.ManagementState == operatorsv1api.Managed {
+			// we did not bootstrap as removed in 4.2 for s390/ppc; we just reported complete
+			// clean that up to facilitate our mode of operation for those platforms
+			cfg.Spec.ManagementState = operatorsv1api.Removed
+			dbg := fmt.Sprintf("switch management state to removed for %s", cfg.Spec.Architectures[0])
+			logrus.Printf("CRDUPDATE %s", dbg)
+			return h.crdwrapper.Update(cfg)
+		}
+
 		// Every time we see a change to the Config object, update the ClusterOperator status
 		// based on the current conditions of the Config.
 		cfg = h.refetchCfgMinimizeConflicts(cfg)
@@ -772,9 +782,11 @@ func (h *Handler) Handle(event util.Event) error {
 
 				// migration inevitably means we need to refresh the file cache as samples are added and
 				// deleted between releases, so force file map building
-				h.buildFileMaps(cfg, true)
-				// passing in false means if the samples is present, we leave it alone
-				_, err = h.createSamples(cfg, false, registryChanged, unskippedStreams, unskippedTemplates)
+				if !util.IsNonX86Arch(cfg) {
+					h.buildFileMaps(cfg, true)
+					// passing in false means if the samples is present, we leave it alone
+					_, err = h.createSamples(cfg, false, registryChanged, unskippedStreams, unskippedTemplates)
+				}
 				return err
 			}
 			// if config changed requiring an upsert, but a prior config action is still in progress,
diff --git a/pkg/stub/imagestreams.go b/pkg/stub/imagestreams.go
index 26d58b974..c7236bf09 100644
--- a/pkg/stub/imagestreams.go
+++ b/pkg/stub/imagestreams.go
@@ -27,6 +27,13 @@ func (h *Handler) processImageStreamWatchEvent(is *imagev1.ImageStream, deleted
 	} else {
 		logrus.Debugf("Imagestream %s watch event do upsert %v; no errors in prep %v,  possibly update operator conditions %v", is.Name, doUpsert, err == nil, cfg != nil)
 	}
+	if cfg != nil {
+		if util.IsNonX86Arch(cfg) {
+			logrus.Printf("ignoring watch event for imagestream %s ignored because we are on %s",
+				is.Name, cfg.Spec.Architectures[0])
+			return nil
+		}
+	}
 	if !doUpsert {
 		if err != nil {
 			return err