Some things to check...
- Did this "quirk" always occur or is this recent?
- Have you formally defined your relationships? (From the menu, "Tools" -> "Relationships"; add your tables. Click and drag the primary key in one table to the foreign key on the related table and enforce referential integrity)
- Are you main form / child subforms linked properly? Open the form in design mode and ensure the Properties window is open (Menu, "View" -> "Properties") Select a text box on the main form and then select the subform. Look on the "Data" tab in the Properties window -- should see matching entries for the primary key LinkMaster field / foreign key LinkChildField.
...And yes, the Refresh solves many a woe.
Richard