html editor not saving changes

i'm running the very latest stable code - multisite on one codebase - tinymce seems to work just fine, except the code editing window does not update the code, and when using the image button, it will load and insert an image just fine, but none of the style info is saved - i.e. you can choose align right, and update, but it is lost. no difference with or without imce, or full or filtered html.