Can’t eject cdrom?

I got errors like this:

eject: tried to use `/dev/hdc' as device name but it is no block device
eject: unable to find or open device for: `cdrom'

Also, there was no /dev/hdc file (no file called hdc in /dev).
It was because my CD drive had become disconnected from the motherboard. Some cables (are they called jumper cables?) had come loose. In other words, it was a hardware problem.