[Motorola Droid RAZR] Ohmster:
Oh my, I am sorry to hear you are having so much trouble, my friend. I am going to try and help you, step by step, in what I do and how it works. I did not learn this stuff "in a week", it took months of practice to fine tune my system, thanks to senior members like [MENTION=838017]sherri[/MENTION], [MENTION=3457922]stargo[/MENTION], [MENTION=4977351]DumbleCore[/MENTION], and so many other senior members who took the time to give me the details of how they "Always have such good working phones".

Getting a CM11 build and pa-gapps (I like Mini-Modular) installed is not that hard or difficult. At the bottom of this message in bold are simple instructions, it works or it does not, no head scratching required. Maybe you are using a new version of pa-gapps that is causing problems. Here is a direct link to pa_gapps-modular-mini-4.4.4-20141110-signed.zip. I got them from the middle, small Download box. Download and install this version to be sure. If for some reason you cannot pull the file, I have it and will put it on dropbox for you. Don't worry about them being "outdated". Later on, visit the play store, my apps, and "update all" at night when you are not using the phone.

Let's address the "Broken Phone" as you are beginning to suspect. I have never seen a phone with hardware problems cause issues like FC, black screen, or signal loss (Unless the internal antenna has been broken by someone opening the phone and having an accident.) Aside from a cracked or broken screen or digitizer, the only time I really did have to replace the phone is when I lost LTE and 4G. The ONLY data I could get was 3G. My LTE chip was bad, confirmed by Stargo and Matt Grolf, who I asked personally. A replacement Factory Rebuilt phone fixed this right up and I immeidately backed up my /pds folder to external sd-card and then to PC for safekeeping. Once this folder is lost, you cannot get it back.

I *knew* the LTE chip was bad because of 2 obviious things in the /Settings/About Phone/ screen.

Baseband Version: The entire 2nd ½ was missing.

Should Be: CDMA_N_05.21.00R LTEDC_U_09.1D.00

What I now had: CDMA_N_05.21.00R

My /Settings/About Phone/Status/ Screen was missing my IMEI #. That ID number is burned into the phone ONCE at activation and cannot be changed. It no longer showed up in Settings, only as "UNKNOWN". [MENTION=3457922]stargo[/MENTION] did personally help me with ADB and commands to see if the number was "somehow erased" and could be reset, or was the phone really broken. The ADB command really did pull up the IMEI number we pulled with ADB did indeed match the IMEI number on the original shipping carton bar code label. The phone really was broken and a replacement put me back in business. I really do not think your phone is broken.

When I start clean, the process is very simple for me, I keep it that way so as not to complicate things later on. I start by deleting rom slot 1, then recreating it with the partition sizes I like best to maximize the space I need w/out wasting it. For me this is the following:

Slot1 - CM11

System: 700 Mb

Data: 2,000 Mb

Cache: 300 Mb

My CM11 File List:

CM11 rom, the build I wish to install

pa-gapps, Mini-Modular. Most current set available at the time.

That's it, very simple, incredibly stable. I do not use Play Service update module, custom kernels, or anything else.

My update to 11/22 was done OTA over 11/07. I did not wipe anything, I simply did the OTA update, rebooted, and then went to BetterBatteryStats and did the install as system app, opened AdAway and updated hosts, then opened the Xposed Framework and did the update/reinstall and rebooted. That's it. Nothing "magic". I try to keep the rom as vanilla as possible and stop as many non-essential apps and services I can with Greenify and Freezing in Titanium Backup. I do own Apex Pro Launcher but have ditched it long ago in favor or the rom's built in launcher, Trebuchet and I do use the CM HOME setting in Trebuchet. I avoid conflicting things like other launchers and widgets that do not come with CM11 to "keep it pure" and of course for the KISS rule (Keep It Simple, Stupid!). By keeping it simple, there is less to go wrong and less to troubleshoot.

I have not installed pa-gapps mini-modular since I initially installed CM11 because I do not allow them to self-update, but at night before bed sometimes, I open play store, my apps, and "Update All" but for the one or two apps I never update. I do not install the Play Services additional module because I do not want apps updating w/out my saying so, when I want, usually at night before bed so it does not tie up my phone updating during the day.

One thing I can tell you is that my 11/07 install and my 11/22 update work perfectly. No lag, no black screens, no FCs, nothing to complain about.

Once you have a perfectly running rom and the experience you need in trimming it lean and maintaining it, save the rom as a solid base build, label it accordingly in a format that makes sense. My label scheme is simple.

Build Date_Comment Word_Backup Date.

Example: 11-07-14_SMOOTH_11-12.14

I have never had a problem installing a known good build of CM11 NIGHTLY Builds using this method.

Installing CM11 as described above should and will work. Trimming and maintaining it is a different matter. You need

Essential Tools.

Titanium Backup Pro, $6

Greenify Donation Pack, $3

Immediately after finishing the Setup Wizard, go to the Play Store and STOP Automatic-Updates!

Use Titanium Backup to Freeze non-essential apps and services. I prefer to freeze them instead of uninstalling them because they will not come back in next update if frozen.

Greenify *everything* not essential to running the phone. In the Experimental Features, I run Greenify in Boost mode and check every box in the experimental menu. With the donation pack, you can safely Greenify a LOT of Google services such as news, books, music, Google +, hangouts, even search. Greenify does not disable these things, it simply puts them to sleep if they are not being called to task.

This process of freezing and Greenifying takes some time to learn and get right. You will know, the phone "feels" better, faster, more responsive. I currently use a "helper Xposed Module" for this, once you get very experienced, you won't need the helper anymore. I prefer to use The Xposed Module CPUFreq in Statusbar not only to see the 5 steps of CPU frequency, but how often and when these numbers update. This module does not load down the system. When you "get good at this feel of the phone", you will *know* what is running and why because you will now know what the phone is doing, can do, and should be doing.

You really do not have to "jump though hoops" to get CM11 installed and working well. Delete slot, recreate slot, flash cm11 and pa-gapps, reboot. Finish the install Wizard. Stop Google Updates. Install your apps as you need them. Avoid restoring data from Titanium Backup but for the very few times you really need to. Use the built in superuser and Home Launcher, Trebuchet.

This initial procedure should not take but an hour and if you do not have a stable system, STOP, something is wrong

. It is suggested that you make up to 4 backups during this initial setup of the phone as you go so you do not have to "start from scratch" each time. (Backup at first install, then as you go with Greenifying and Freezing in case you make a mistake somewhere.)

Try this please and see what happens. Although I did not install 11/22 from scratch this way, I see no reason why it should not work. KEEP IT SIMPLE! Don't install Play Services Update or anything other than the 2 files I suggested. Good luck, Dwillian. :)