Are you running a test machine that does that, or is it on a remote host? Because it sounds to me like the module just isn't loaded in - for some stupid reason mod_rewrite is shipped with apache but not turned on (well, I think it's stupid). If you're on your own box, you can open up httpd.conf and edit this line:


#LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

.. remove the # and you get ..

LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so


And then as long as allowoverrides is on, you can mod_rewrite to your hearts content. If your host doesn't have it on however, like I just discovered (#@$@#$@) then you may be outta luck. Which is why I wish Apache had it turned on by default, because then my host probably would too, and I could happily use it while they sat in their nice little air conditioned offices thinking they was the shiznit.
-m