would something like this be faster?

int checkrow(int y)
{
int sum=0;
int x=0;
while((x++ <= n) && (!sum))
if(array[x][y]) sum=1;

if(x>=dimx) return(0);
return(1);
}

OR

int checkrow(int y)
{
int x=0;
while((x++ <= n))
if(array[x][y]) break;

if(x>=dimx) return(0);
return(1);
}