If allow_url_fopen is disabled in php.ini you can use CURL function for check file exist:
<?php
$ch = curl_init("http://www.example.com/favicon.ico");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_NOBODY, true);
curl_exec($ch);
$retcode = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
// $retcode >= 400 -> not found, $retcode = 200, found.
curl_close($ch);
?>
