Hmm strange.
In MC in the commandline field , if you type ":goconfig" it will move to the config folders.
Check if this is the same folder for both normal and admin mode.
it is from this location the configuration of are read
Press Ctrl+L to show the log panel.. and check the App Log. if there are any error that it fail to read some configuration or something
Might be that permissions of the configuration file are change and only when you run as admin MC can read them,,
Go to the location above and try to view the config files using the internal view.. (F3 / F1 depeding on default setup,, or just press the View button on the buttonpanel)