i can't really diagnose without all relevant cfg files (both /all/retroarch.cfg and /whichever-mame/retroarch.cfg) in full and all the rest of the questions asked in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first. also ideally a screenshot of the issue (can do this in retroarch quickmenu)
if you're getting spam warnings try uploading them to pastebin or wherever