[Alcatel OneTouch Pop C7 Questions & Answers] CVAngelo:
OOPS!

Hi there. As you've discovered, the Alcatel OT-7040/41 series is tough to work with if you're trying to flash partitions via ADB, or even SP Flash. It's also hard to find files (like the recovery-from-boot.p) where one would expect to find them on the standard Android OS. The reasons are that Alcatel uses a custpack partition and they also use a file shadowing methodology where certain files that you expect to find in a particular and customary place in the Android system are simply references to files in the custpack partition and folders, or sometimes the file is not there where you think it should be but it is in the custpack folders somewhere! The Alcatel system structure is just different!

After you recover your system (I've explained how below), you should use Flashify to flash a custom recovery. But before you do that, here are some words of wisdom gained from making all the mistakes that you can possibly make:

1. DO NOT JUST CHANGE ANYTHING IN THE SYSTEM FOLDERS. First of all, you should not mess with anything there unless you absolutely know what you're doing via experience or the proven experience you're gaining from others who have tested and verified such as the experts here on XDA.

2. BEFORE CHANGING ANYTHING IN THE SYSTEM FOLDER, make a quick copy of that file within the same folder and name the copy to filename.ext.BAK You see, if something goes wrong, you can always reverse what ever change you made and typically recover immediately via a reboot. Think about it. If you delete a system file or change it in someway...HOW WILL YOU GET IT BACK IF YOU NEED IT? The fastest way is to have an immediately available copy the specific file. HOWEVER, you still FIRST need to check the file you are thinking of modifying to see if it is simply referencing a file somewhere else in the system folders!!! It is the REAL file that you need to modify (after backing it up), not the referring file. A referring file usually has a little pointer in the bottom right corner. Or you can just check the files properties and you will see that it has a size of 0! That's how you can tell it's just a pointer and not the real file.

3. Anything you plan to do with your phone (in terms of modifying it), always check on the XDA forum BEFORE you attempt to make the mod. You will usually find a good deal of helpful info that will allow you to do things right, or to understand what to expect so that you know you're going down the right path.

Please forgive me if I seem to be preaching. I'm really just trying to help you NOT to make all the boneheaded mistakes I myself made. I have bricked my Alcatel several times and thankfully recovered. But I learned the very hard way.

OK, so now that we've got all that out of the way, here's how to fix your Alcatel phone. What you really need is to bring your phone back to stock and then re-root it. So here are the steps:

Step 1: Backup all your data that is in the phone's internal SD drive if that's possible. It is going to be lost in step 2. Then turn the phone off.

Step 2: On your computer (laptop/desktop), go to Alcatel's website and download the Mobile Upgrade S program and install it on your computer. You can find the Mobile Upgrade S software here: http://www.alcatelonetouch.com/ph/products/andorid_smartphones/one_touch_pop_c7.html#.VQ6htPkwow8 (you will have to click on the support tab and then look for the "Mobile Upgrade S 4.3.1 Setup.rar" download link on the right hand side of the screen).

Step 3: Fire up the Mobile Upgrade S software and just follow the instructions. This process will return your phone to 100% stock, unroot your phone, replacing any custom recovery or other mods to complete stock. It's totally automatic. This is your lifeline for the future in case you ever brick your phone and cannot get it to boot (as long as your computer recognizes the phone even when it's off)!

Step 4: Root your phone using the same method you used initially, and then install Busybox (I use Busy Box X from the Play Store).

Step 5: Install Flashify and backup your stock recovery. Then flash the custom recovery you say you now have.

Step 6: Make a full system backup of your phone using your custom recovery! Keep the backup on your SD-Card and a second copy on your computer hard drive.

You can restore any data you had saved from the internal SD.

Done! You're now free to muck with your phone and flash custom ROMs at will (just don't hard brick it).