Veliparib and Radiation Therapy in Treating Patients With Advanced Solid Malignancies With Peritoneal Carcinomatosis, Epithelial Ovarian, Fallopian, or Primary Peritoneal Cancer

Inclusion Criteria: * Dose levels 1-4 must have histologically proven solid malignancy that is metastatic or unresectable with metastatic peritoneal carcinomatosis; as this entity may be difficult to image, peritoneal disease can be documented through other modalities such as operative notes, clinical notes/symptoms, etc as well as imaging * Dose levels 5 and 6 will be open only to patients with recurrent or persistent primary epithelial ovarian, fallopian or peritoneal cancers; at these dose levels, measurable disease in the abdominal cavity must be present but peritoneal carcinomatosis is not required for eligibility * Patients must have failed first line standard therapy or have no acceptable standard treatment options; for patients on dose levels 5 and 6, patients may be platinum sensitive, platinum resistant or platinum refractory * Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document * Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status =\< 1 * Life expectancy of greater than 3 months * Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) \>= 1,500/mcL * Platelets \>= 100,000/mcL * Total bilirubin =\< 1.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN) * Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase \[SGOT\])/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase \[SGPT\]) =\< 2.5 x ULN * Creatinine =\< 1.5 x ULN OR creatinine clearance \>= 60 mL/min/1.73 m\^2 for patients with creatinine levels above institutional normal * Calcium within normal limit (WNL) * No surgery, hormonal therapy or chemotherapy within four weeks; for dose levels 5 and 6, patients receiving mitomycin C or nitrosoureas must discontinue treatment 6 weeks prior to registration and any hormonal treatment directed at the malignant tumor must be discontinued at least one week prior to registration; continuation of hormone replacement therapy is permitted * No previous abdominal radiation; if the patient has received previous pelvic radiation there should not be any overlap between the current and previous radiation fields * Toxicities of prior chemotherapy recovered to grade 1 or less except for stable grade 2 peripheral neuropathy * Negative pregnancy test if premenopausal; women of child-bearing potential and men must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation; should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while participating in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately * Archival tumor sample collection with a tumor block is required for all enrolled patients when available; this will not be required for patients on dose levels 5 and 6; if no block can be released per institutional policy, 10 to 20 unstained slides may be substituted; slides should have a positive charge and a thickness of 3 to 5 microns; if the only tissue sample available is a fine needle aspirate (FNA), the patient will still be considered eligible * Patients with central nervous system (CNS) metastases to be stable after therapy for \> 3 months and off steroid treatment prior to study enrollment * For patients in dose levels 5 and 6, BRCA testing results, if previously performed, should be attained; if no BRCA testing has been performed, patients may be referred to a genetic counselor and will have detailed family history performed as part of the screening process Exclusion Criteria: * Patients who have had chemotherapy or radiotherapy within 4 weeks (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin C) prior to entering the study or those who have not recovered from adverse events due to agents administered more than 4 weeks earlier * Patients who are currently receiving any other investigational agents * Brain metastases: patients with treated and stable brain metastasis for 3 months, off steroids will be eligible * Patients who demonstrate any clinical evidence of bleeding * Patients who have demonstrated an inability to swallow oral medications * Patients who currently have an active gastrointestinal obstruction, have had a gastrointestinal obstruction within the last 30 days prior to enrollment and/or are actively requiring parenteral nutrition are excluded; patients who have had a history of any prior gastrointestinal obstruction requiring surgical intervention are also excluded * Patients who have a known hypersensitivity to the components of the study drug, its analogs or drugs of a similar chemical or biologic composition * Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements * Pregnant women are excluded from this study; breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is treated with veliparib * Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients on combination antiretroviral therapy are ineligible * Patients who have uncontrolled ascites * Patients with active seizures or a history of seizure are not eligible * Patients previously treated with poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP) inhibitors