RO4929097 and Capecitabine in Treating Patients With Refractory Solid Tumors

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients must have histologically or cytologically confirmed advanced or metastatic solid tumor; patients with lymphoma will be eligible * Patients must have measurable disease, defined as at least one lesion that can be accurately measured in at least one dimension (longest diameter to be recorded) as \>= 20 mm with conventional techniques or as \>= 10 mm with spiral CT scan * Patients must be at least 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy, 6 weeks if the last regimen included BCNU or mitomycin C; prior radiation is allowed as long as the radiation was completed 4 weeks prior to study treatment and no more than 35% of marrow irradiated * Life expectancy of greater than 3 months * ECOG performance status =\< 2 (Karnofsky \>= 60%) * Hemoglobin \>= 9 g/dL * Leukocytes \>= 3,000/mcL * Absolute neutrophil count \>= 1,500/mcL * Platelets \>= 100,000/mcL * Total bilirubin within normal institutional limits * AST (SGOT)/ALT (SGPT) =\< 2.5 X institutional upper limit of normal * Creatinine within normal institutional limits OR creatinine clearance \>= 60 mL/min/1.73 m\^2 for patients with creatinine levels above institutional normal; a 24 hour urine collection and creatinine clearance can be measured if indicated * Treated, stable brain metastases are allowed; patients must be four weeks from radiation with stable brain imaging and off any medications used to treat brain metastases, excepting those anti-epileptics not metabolized by cytochrome P450 * Women of childbearing potential and men must use two forms of contraception (i.e., barrier contraception and one other method of contraception) at least 4 weeks prior to study entry, for the duration of study participation, and for at least 12 months post-treatment; should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while she or her partner are participating in this study and for 12 months after study participation, the patient should inform the treating physician immediately * Women of childbearing potential are required to have a negative serum pregnancy test (with a sensitivity of at least 25 mIU/mL) within 10-14 days and within 24 hours prior to the first dose of RO4929097 (serum or urine); a pregnancy test (serum or urine) will be administered every 4 weeks if their menstrual cycles are regular or every 2 weeks if their cycles are irregular while on study within the 24-hour period prior to the administration of RO4929097; a positive urine test must be confirmed by a serum pregnancy test; prior to dispensing RO4929097, the investigator must confirm and document the patient's use of two contraceptive methods, dates of negative pregnancy test, and confirm the patient's understanding of the teratogenic potential of RO4929097 * Female patients of childbearing potential are defined as follows: * Patients with regular menses * Patients, after menarche with amenorrhea, irregular cycles, or using a contraceptive method that precludes withdrawal bleeding * Women who have had tubal ligation * Female patients may be considered NOT to be of childbearing potential for the following reasons: * The patient has undergone total abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy or bilateral oophorectomy * The patient is medically confirmed to be menopausal (no menstrual period) for 24 consecutive months * Pre-pubertal females. The parent or guardian of young female patients who have not yet started menstruation should verify that menstruation has not begun. If a young female patient reaches menarche during the study, then she is to be considered as a woman of childbearing potential from that time forward * Patients must demonstrate an ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document * Preclinical studies indicate that RO4929097 is a substrate of CYP3A4 and inducer of CYP3A4 enzyme activity; caution should be exercised when dosing RO4929097 concurrently with CYP3A4 substrates, inducers, and/or inhibitors; furthermore, patients who are taking concurrent medications that are strong inducers/inhibitors or substrates of CYP3A4 should be switched to alternative medications to minimize any potential risk; if such patients cannot be switched to alternative medications, they will be ineligible to participate in this study * PART 2A (MTD EXPANSION COLORECTAL CANCER): * For this cohort patients must have histologically or cytologically documented advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer; patients must have had at least one prior chemotherapy regimen for their disease but no more than 2 * All 5 patients in this cohort must be willing and able to have tumor biopsies performed as part of the correlative studies associated with this trial * PART 2B (MTD EXPANSION BREAST CANCER): * For this cohort, patients must have histologically or cytologically documented advanced or metastatic breast cancer * Patient must be HER2/neu negative; HER2 negative will be defined as HER2 neither over-expressed or amplified; HER2 will be considered NOT over-expressed if the tumor stains as 0 or 1+ for HER2 by immunohistochemistry (IHC); if the IHC for HER2 is 2+, fluorescence in-site hybridization (FISH) ratio must be less than 2 to be considered NOT amplified; any tumor for which only FISH was performed must have a ratio of less than 2 to be considered NOT amplified * All 5 patients in this breast cancer cohort must be willing and able to have tumor biopsies performed as part of the correlative studies associated with this trial Exclusion Criteria: * Patients may not be receiving any other investigational agents * History of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to RO4929097 or capecitabine * Patients taking medications with narrow therapeutic indices that are metabolized by cytochrome P450 (CYP450), including warfarin sodium (Coumadin®) are ineligible * Patients with malabsorption syndrome or other condition that would interfere with intestinal absorption; patients must be able to swallow tablets * Patients who are serologically positive for Hepatitis A, B or C, or have a history of liver disease, other forms of hepatitis or cirrhosis are ineligible * Patients with uncontrolled hypocalcemia, hypomagnesemia, hyponatremia, hypophosphatemia or hypokalemia defined as less than the lower limit of normal for the institution, despite adequate electrolyte supplementation are excluded from this study; note: it is acceptable to use corrected calcium when interpreting calcium levels * Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, and a history of torsades de pointes or other significant cardiac arrhythmia other than chronic, stable atrial fibrillation, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements * Pregnant women are excluded from this study; breastfeeding should be discontinued * HIV-positive patients, who are not on anti-retroviral therapy but have CD4 cells less than 200, should be excluded; HIV-positive patients are eligible if they are on HAART (highly active anti-retroviral therapy) which are not CYP3A4 substrates, inducers and/or inhibitors and meet all other criteria * Cardiovascular: baseline QTcF \> 450 msec * Patients with known dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) deficiency enzyme are excluded * Patients who have not recovered to \< CTCAE grade 2 toxicities related to prior therapy are not eligible to participate in this study * A requirement for antiarrhythmics or other medications known to prolong QTc * PART2B (MTD EXPANSION BREAST CANCER): * Patients may not have had more than 1 prior cytotoxic chemotherapy for metastatic disease; prior endocrine or immunotherapy regimens for metastatic disease will not be counted as cytotoxic