mod_rewrite, yet again. need help

Basically, what I need to do is this:

When someone types http://domain.tld/whatever.whenever
it needs to rewrite to a page like this: check.php?query=whatever.whenever
But this should exclude http://domain.tld/ and http://domain.tld/index.php
Because in these cases index.php is displayed. Ive been trying for several hours and cant seem to get it work although Ive read many tutorials, and everything seems logical

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !index\.php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !check\.php
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ check.php?domain=$1

Code (markup):

 

Try with [L] at the end of each Rule (to stop looking for new rules).
Example:

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /

RewriteRule ^$ index.php [L]
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ index.php [L]
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ check.php?domain=$1 [L]

Code (markup):