Veliparib, Paclitaxel, and Carboplatin in Treating Patients With Solid Tumors That Are Metastatic or Cannot Be Removed by Surgery and Liver or Kidney Dysfunction

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients must have histologically confirmed malignancy that is radiologically evaluable and metastatic or unresectable, for which standard curative or palliative measures do not exist or are no longer effective, and for which there is expectation of response to the combination of carboplatin/paclitaxel (i.e., lung, ovarian, breast, melanoma, head and neck, endometrial, urothelial, testicular, esophageal, carcinoma of unknown primary); for indications not listed, eligibility based on disease must be verified by the principal investigator before they are considered * Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status =\< 2 (Karnofsky \>= 60%) * Life expectancy of greater than 12 weeks * Absolute neutrophil count \>= 1,500/mcL * Platelets \>= 100,000/mcL * Hemoglobin \>= 8.0 g/dL * Patients with all degrees of renal dysfunction are allowed including patients on hemodialysis; patients with mild to severe hepatic dysfunction are allowed as defined below: * Total bilirubin =\< 5 x upper limit of normal (ULN) * Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) =\< 10 x ULN * For patients with a recently placed biliary stent, patients should have consistent results within a hepatic group from two laboratory readings within 3 days apart, taken at least 10 days following biliary stent placement; for patients with a biliary stent placed over 2 months ago, no obstruction or blockage can have occurred within the last 2 months * Women of c…