Can’t Detach an AutoCAD Reference File

I ran into an issue today where I was not able to DETACH a referenced DWG file from one of my AutoCAD files.  I went to work on a file that somebody else had been using.  It had survey information in it that I need to use as a starting point for a new project.  It also has several other files referenced into it.  If they were set up as overlays I wouldn't have minded so much but they were attachments.  I did not want to be forced into carrying over those files every time I needed this file.  I copied the file into my own directory (yes I still call folders directories) to use as a base file to be referenced in a few drawing files.

There was one reference that I could not DETACH.  When I tried to detach it through AutoCAD’s Reference Manager Pallet I received this error message:

“Xref CCPMastRKP has multiple references. Not detached.”

CCPMastRKP was the name of the stubborn file.  I turned ON and Thawed every layer in the file and found that the reference had been copied several times.  I deleted them and tried to detach the reference again.  Same error message.  I shut down AutoCAD.  Counted to five and restarted it.  Opened the file and tried once again to detach the offending file.  Same results still.  I double checked that every layer was visible, preformed a Zoom Extents.  Nothing.  It’s not in the file even though AutoCAD is telling me it is there multiple times.

GRRRR.

I had an idea.  Maybe the reference was also saved in the file as a block??  All “circular reference” and such. I didn’t see a block with the same or similar name as the file itself but there were many blocks with a name that started with A$.   I purged those from the file and was able to detach the reference.
I don’t know.  I wouldn’t think it would happen this way but it did.  The point to this is that if you have trouble detaching a file make sure that there aren’t multiple instances of it in the file.