Only thing I might suggest is make sure you have Page.EnableViewstate = true; in page load.
Not having any idea what your code is doing I have no way to diagnose it.
I suggest set some break points and step through the code and see at what point it loses the new values.
I don't find myself using DetailsView often but see no problem with using it and sure I could get it working if I needed it.
If you're using Mono it could be a Mono bug as well.
Best,
Joe