I finally patched core program post_new.php to disable autosave for a "new" post and the problem went away. Do not know if this will help you or not. My patch for v.2.3.1 follows. Newer versions might be around the same location.
Edit the file wp-admin/post_new.php WP v2.3.1 and insert "//" (without the quotes) at the beginning of this line (currently line 8):
wp_enqueue_script('autosave');
Save and upload the file post_new.php, and the WordPress autosave features is now disable.