The only thing that I could think of would be if you were on a Content Delivery Network and it was caching settings (though I think your browser could technically also cache assets); a Control F5 after submitting settings should leave you with the latest saved config.
Settings are stored in a flat file /includes/config.inc.php and are not generally found in the database (with the exception of Forum/Category data and permissions).
If nothing happens on the page when you click the submit button, make sure that all form fields are populated and that none have a red border; the HTML5 validations added to the Control Panel will not allow pages to submit invalid values
