This is a phase I study of the experimental anticancer drug oxaliplatin. It is designed to establish the maximum dose of the drug that can be given safely to patients with cancer who have impaired liver function and to determine the drug's side effects. It will also examine how liver function affects the drug's elimination from the body. The liver plays an important role in the elimination of many anticancer drugs, and patients with impaired liver function should not take certain drugs or should take them in reduced doses.