General configuration query

["T Michael Turney" <tmike@theptrgroup.com>]

Folks,
This is a bit of a follow-on from a 405
query from last week.

I have a working 2.4.22 ppc/405 system
with an initrd (busybox) serving as the
root filesystem.

We have to add IDE support and Network
support, but don't have working drivers for
these devices.  The onchip ethernet is
not directly connected to a PHY but to
a HUB chip so this driver requires a little tweaking.

In an effort to test the stability of our
baseline I enabled Network Support (CONFIG_NET)
but didn't turn on any networking options or
enable any devices.

The image built but almost immediately OOPS.

Is this expected behavior or does this point
to instability in my baseline?

[If this query belongs on the other 'new' list,
my apologies, I'm still finding my way.]
Cheers,
T.mike