Mysql 1050 Error "Table already exists" when in fact, it does not

I'm adding this table:

CREATE TABLE contenttype (
        contenttypeid INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
        class VARBINARY(50) NOT NULL,
        packageid INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
        canplace ENUM('0','1') NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
        cansearch ENUM('0','1') NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
        cantag ENUM('0','1') DEFAULT '0',
        canattach ENUM('0','1') DEFAULT '0',
        isaggregator ENUM('0', '1') NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
        PRIMARY KEY (contenttypeid),
        UNIQUE KEY packageclass (packageid, class)
);

And I get a 1050 "table already exists"

But the table does NOT exist. Any ideas?

EDIT: more details because everyone seems to not believe me :)

DESCRIBE contenttype

yields:

1146 - Table 'gunzfact_vbforumdb.contenttype' doesn't exist

and

CREATE TABLE gunzfact_vbforumdb.contenttype(
contenttypeid INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT ,
class VARBINARY( 50 ) NOT NULL ,
packageid INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL ,
canplace ENUM( '0', '1' ) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
cansearch ENUM( '0', '1' ) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
cantag ENUM( '0', '1' ) DEFAULT '0',
canattach ENUM( '0', '1' ) DEFAULT '0',
isaggregator ENUM( '0', '1' ) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
PRIMARY KEY ( contenttypeid ) ,

Yields:

1050 - Table 'contenttype' already exists

Solution 1:

Sounds like you have Schroedinger's table...

Seriously now, you probably have a broken table. Try:

• DROP TABLE IF EXISTS contenttype
• REPAIR TABLE contenttype
• If you have sufficient permissions, delete the data files (in /mysql/data/db_name)

Solution 2:

from MySQL Log:

InnoDB: You can drop the orphaned table inside InnoDB by
InnoDB: creating an InnoDB table with the same name in another
InnoDB: database and copying the .frm file to the current database.
InnoDB: Then MySQL thinks the table exists, and DROP TABLE will
InnoDB: succeed.

Solution 3:

I got this same error, and REPAIR TABLE (from @NullUserException's answer) didn't help.

I eventually found this solution:

sudo mysqladmin flush-tables

For me, without the sudo, I got the following error:

mysqladmin: refresh failed; error: 'Access denied; you need the RELOAD privilege for this operation'

(Running on OS X 10.6)

Solution 4:

You may need to flush the table cache. For example:

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `tablename` ;
FLUSH TABLES `tablename` ; /* or exclude `tablename` to flush all tables */
CREATE TABLE `tablename` ...