Problems with vi Hanging

Does anyone else have problems with the vi editor hanging on the slug?
 I have not yet pinned down the cause, but it seems to happen more
frequently if I run vi under the GNU screen and sometimes even without
GNU screen, particularly if I am editing near the start of a line of
text and I push "Backspace" one too many times.

When it happens I usually have to resort to killing off the process
sending signal 9.  (I'm still not sure exactly what that does but it
seems to work.)  If I don't kill the process (or reboot) eventually
the vi process(es) end up sucking most of the slug's CPU cycles.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?  I realize that this may be mostly
a generic Linux question, but I am hoping that this group has some
wisdom to offer.  Thanks.





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