can cpu's become faulty?

[paulefc]

ok.this might be a stupid question but can the cpu become faulty? doesnt matter what programme i run the cpu usage is 100% or just below.have restored the system completely (system recovery) & only have i/explorer,firefox & windows media player installed now.all the other files & programmes are backed up & havent been installed yet.even task manager uses 100& when i start that.i give up now & am hoping the pc is faulty cos that would be an easy fix!

[renegade600]

cpus can go bad but maybe not in this case. Go into safemode and see if it runs 100 percent there. If not then it is not the cpu, just something you have running in the background.

[paulefc]

runs 100 percent in safe mode too when i try firefox or i/explorer.seems to stabilise after a minute or so,but keeps spiking between 70-100%