Yes, the images do exist and have IDs associated which is what we are populating the meta_value with. The post_meta table looks exactly the same after update, but for some reason, we physically have to hit update to make the repeater field recognize the data. That makes me think there is something somewhere else that needs to be updated.
The images even show up when in edit mode before hitting update, and in preview mode, just not on the front end page until after updating.
