Alvespimycin Hydrochloride in Treating Patients With Metastatic or Unresectable Solid Tumors

Inclusion Criteria:

* Histologically confirmed solid tumor, including, but not limited to, the following:

  * Prostate
  * Breast
  * Ovary
  * Colon
  * Kidney
  * Head and neck
  * Stomach
  * Melanoma
* Metastatic or unresectable disease
* No standard curative or palliative therapy exists or is no longer effective
* Progressive disease as indicated by the following:

  * Non-prostate cancer

    * New lesions or increase in pre-existing lesions on bone scintigraphy, CT scan, MRI, or by physical examination
    * No increase in biochemical markers (e.g., carcinoembryonic antigen or CA-15-3) or symptoms as sole evidence of disease progression
  * Prostate cancer

    * Must have castrate metastatic disease (i.e., disease progression after castration or treatment with a gonadotropin-releasing hormone \[GnRH\] analog)

      * Patients who have not undergone surgical orchiectomy must continue with medical therapy (i.e., GnRH analogs) to maintain castrate levels of serum testosterone \< 50 ng/dL
      * Patients who received an antiandrogen as part of first-line hormonal therapy must show disease progression after discontinuing treatment
    * Progressive metastatic disease on imaging studies (e.g., bone scan, CT scan, or MRI) OR metastatic disease and a rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) allowed

      * Biochemical progression is defined as a minimum of 3 rising PSA values from baseline obtained at least 1 week apart OR 2 rising PSA values obtained more than 1 month apart, with \>= 25% increase in value
* No active brain metastases
* Hormone receptor status:

  * Not specified
* Male or female
* Performance status - Karnofsky 70-100%
* Performance status - ECOG 0-1
* More than 6 months
* WBC \>= 3, 000/mm\^3
* Absolute neutrophil count \>= 1, 500/mm\^3
* Platelet count \>= 100,000/mm\^3
* Bilirubin =\< 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
* AST and ALT \< 1.5 times ULN
* PT normal
* Creatinine =\< 1.4 mg/dL
* Creatinine clearance \> 55 mL/min
* QTc \< 450 msec for male patients (470 msec for female patients)
* LVEF \> 40% by MUGA
* No history of serious ventricular arrhythmia (i.e., ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation \>= 3 beats in a row)
* No myocardial infarction within the past year
* No active ischemic heart disease within the past year
* No New York Heart Association class III or IV congestive heart failure
* No congenital long QT syndrome
* No left bundle branch block
* No poorly controlled angina
* No history of uncontrolled dysrhythmias or requiring antiarrhythmic drugs

  * Calcium blockers and beta blockers allowed
* No other significant cardiac disease
* Oxygen saturation \> 88%
* Dyspnea \< grade 2 at rest on room air
* No clinically significant pulmonary comorbidity (e.g., severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
* No requirement for supplemental oxygen
* Not pregnant or nursing
* Negative pregnancy test
* Fertile patients must use effective contraception
* No active or ongoing infection
* No symptomatic peripheral neuropathy \>= grade 2
* No psychiatric illness or social situation that would preclude study compliance
* No other uncontrolled illness
* More than 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for mitomycin and nitrosoureas)
* At least 1 week since prior ketoconazole
* More than 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy
* Recovered from all prior therapy
* More than 4 weeks since prior investigational anticancer therapeutic drugs
* No concurrent combination antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive patients
* No concurrent administration of any of the following herbal remedies:

  * Hydrastis canadensis (goldenseal)
  * Hypericum perforatum (St. John's wort)
  * Uncaria tomentosa (cat's claw)
  * Echinacea angustifolia roots
  * Trifolium pratense (wild cherry)
  * Matricaria chamomilla (chamomile)
  * Glycyrrhiza glabra (licorice)
  * Dillapiol
  * Hypericin
  * Naringenin
* No other concurrent investigational agents
* No other concurrent anticancer agents or therapies