(keep in mind at this point ive put back on the clean original nand to start from scratch)
I first wrote xell to the nand. got my key and put it in the key spot
then i clicked create freeboot. When it came up in CMD, it said something about SMC cannot verify but continued to write fb to the clean nand i gave it. I then clicked write .bin and chose the fb file i just made. Once it was done writing, i booted the xbox up first without dvd drive and gave me the xell screen, then with the dvd drive, still xell screen. tried it again and the xbox went to e74 (it is a repaired falcon). SO, now its at the stage where xell is writen to the nand and it will boot to the nand screen without e74. Thats where i am at this point.