Tanespimycin in Treating Young Patients With Recurrent or Refractory Leukemia or Solid Tumors

Inclusion Criteria:

* Histologically confirmed diagnosis of 1 of the following malignancies:

  * Leukemia

    * Lymphoid, myeloid, or mixed lineage
    * Relapsed (in second or greater relapse) or refractory disease, confirmed by 1 of the following:

      * Bone marrow relapse, defined as either M3 bone marrow (\> 25% blasts in the bone marrow aspirate) OR M2 bone marrow (5-25% blasts in the bone marrow aspirate) at any time after complete remission is attained
      * CNS relapse, defined as at least 5 WBC/mL by cytospin of any cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimen OR less than 5 WBC/mL by cytospin of 2 consecutive CSF specimens obtained \>= 4 weeks apart and having definitive confirmation that blasts are derived from the original leukemic clone by molecular cytogenetics, multiparameter flow cytometry, or immunostaining of \>= 2 antigens
    * Patients with underlying chronic myeloid leukemia must have \> 25% blasts in the bone marrow aspirate
    * Patients with M3 bone marrow AND extramedullary sites of disease, other than leptomeningeal disease, are eligible
  * Solid tumor

    * One of the following tumor types:

      * Neuroblastoma
      * Ewing's sarcoma
      * Osteosarcoma
      * Desmoplastic small round cell tumor
      * Rhabdomyosarcoma
    * Progressed after prior standard therapy OR no effective standard therapy exists
    * Measurable or nonmeasurable disease
* No known brain metastases
* No active leptomeningeal leukemia, defined by the following criteria:

  * WBC \> 5/mm\^3 in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
  * Unequivocal confirmation of leukemic blasts in CSF by cell morphology
* No symptomatic CNS disease (e.g., cranial nerve abnormalities) without cytologic abnormality in CSF
* Performance status - Karnofsky 70-100% (for patients \> 10 years of age)
* Performance status - Lansky 70-100% (for patients =\< 10 years of age)
* More than 8 weeks
* Absolute neutrophil count \>= 750/mm\^3
* Platelet count \>= 75,000/mm\^3 (transfusion independent)
* Hemoglobin \>= 8.5 g/dL (transfusion allowed)
* Bilirubin \< 1.5 mg/dL
* ALT and AST =\< 2.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
* INR =\< 1.5 times ULN
* Albumin \> 2.0 g/dL
* Creatinine =\< 1.5 times ULN for age
* Creatinine clearance or radioisotope glomerular filtration rate \> 60 mL/min
* Ejection fraction \>= 50%
* Shortening fraction \>= 28%
* QTc \< 450 msec for men (470 msec for women)

  * No congenital long QT syndrome
* LVEF \> 40% by MUGA
* No symptomatic congestive heart failure
* No cardiac arrhythmia
* No New York Heart Association class III or IV heart failure
* No myocardial infarction within the past year
* No uncontrolled dysrhythmias
* No poorly controlled angina
* More than 12 months since active ischemic heart disease
* No history of serious ventricular arrhythmia (ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation \>= 3 beats in a row)
* No left bundle branch block
* No other significant cardiac disease
* No pulmonary fibrosis by radiography
* No ongoing or active bacterial or fungal infection
* No other uncontrolled illness
* No psychiatric illness or social situation that would preclude study compliance
* No history of serious allergic reaction attributed to eggs or dimethyl sulfoxide
* Not pregnant or nursing
* Negative pregnancy test
* Fertile patients must use effective contraception
* Recovered from all immunotherapy
* At least 6 months since prior allogeneic stem cell transplantation
* At least 3 months since prior autologous stem cell transplantation
* At least 2 weeks since prior biologic agents (e.g., monoclonal antibodies)
* At least 1 week since prior filgrastim (G-CSF) or sargramostim (GM-CSF)
* Recovered from all prior chemotherapy
* At least 2 weeks since prior chemotherapy (for patients with leukemia only)
* At least 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin) (for patients with solid tumors)
* No prior oxaliplatin
* No concurrent corticosteroids except for the treatment of adrenal crises in patients with suppressed hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis response OR for treatment of allergic reactions to medications or blood products
* Recovered from all prior radiotherapy
* At least 6 months since prior radiotherapy to \>= 50% of the pelvis
* At least 6 months since prior radiotherapy to substantial bone marrow, including total body irradiation
* At least 4 weeks since prior local (small port) radiotherapy
* No prior radiotherapy to the heart
* At least 1 week since prior retinoids
* No concurrent antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive patients
* No concurrent medication to control arrhythmias
* No concurrent medications that prolong or may prolong QTc interval
* No other concurrent investigational agents
* No other concurrent anticancer therapy