Ver. 7.2 block device definition errors

Dear Sir or Madame,
      I am a new Linux user attempting to get up to
speed on the operating system. I recently wiped
/re-installed the operating system on a spare p.c. of
mine to correct a kernel problem I was having. THe
floppy and cdrom were configured and functioning
corectly before the reload but now I can't access the
floppy drive or the cdrom. When I attempt to "mount"
either device I get an error "/dev/cdrom is not a
valid block device". When I run a device list "ls -l
/dev/cdrom" it returns a status for either device of
"lrwxrwxrwx  1 root  root [Date] /dev/cdrom -/dev/hdc
" .I tried to format this line the way it shows on my
monitor. Note the "l" at the begining of the line. I
understand that only "b" (block) or "c" (character)
devices are legitimate. So what does the "l" mean and
how do I correct it?  Thanks in advance for your assist...

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