Error 1146 - Table 'dbname.tablename' doesn't exist
You can get MySQL error 1146 when you are trying to access a table that does not exist:
SELECT * FROM non_existent_table;
Error 1146 - Table 'dbname.non_existent_table' doesn't exist
but this error can show up for any number of other reasons, eg.
mysql> SHOW TABLES;
+-----------------------+
| Tables_in_database |
+-----------------------+
| TABLE_ONE |
+-----------------------+
mysql> SELECT * FROM TABLE_ONE;
ERROR 1146 (42S02): Table 'database.TABLE_ONE' doesn't exist
it could be a full partition, a corrupted database that needs to be fixed, a failed copy/restore operation, some locks or wrong/corrupted permissions on the filesystem, etc.