mode_rewrite and .htaccess

Hi !
i need help related to mod_rewrite by .htaccess

the scenario is

dynamic url : localhost/cylinks/cat.php?id=4
static url : localhost/cylinks/cat/id/4

.htaccess file is saved in root directory (where index.php & cat.php exists)

.htaccess contains::

Options +Indexes
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /


# Set the default handler
DirectoryIndex index.php

# URL rewrite rules
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
## Category redirect
RewriteRule ^cylinks/cat/id/(.*)/$ /cat.php?id=$1 [L]
</IfModule>


but i'm getting 404 not found error.
what's the problem ?
please help ?
i'm using apache 1.3.x ..
is there any way to check if actually mod_rewrite module is working at my host/pc ?

 

Options +FollowSymLinks +Indexes
RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^cylinks/cat/id/([^.]+)$ cylinks/cat.php?id=$1 [L]

domain.com instead of localhost.

 

Thankyou so much ! it's working now..
but is it possible to do it on localhost ?

 

localhost is worthless for mod_rewrite cause search engines would never even see it.