diff --git a/test/test_ops.py b/test/test_ops.py
index 06133cca44..277f1bca35 100644
--- a/test/test_ops.py
+++ b/test/test_ops.py
@@ -113,24 +113,24 @@ class TestOps(unittest.TestCase):
     ]
 
     for method in creation_methods:
-      with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError): method(-3, 2)
-      with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError): method((2, -3))
-      with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError): method((2, -3, 0))
+      with self.assertRaises(ValueError): method(-3, 2)
+      with self.assertRaises(ValueError): method((2, -3))
+      with self.assertRaises(ValueError): method((2, -3, 0))
 
   def test_negative_dims_full(self):
-    with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError): Tensor.full(-3, 2)
-    with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError): Tensor.full((2, -3), 4)
-    with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError): Tensor.full((2, -3, 0), 4)
+    with self.assertRaises(ValueError): Tensor.full(-3, 2)
+    with self.assertRaises(ValueError): Tensor.full((2, -3), 4)
+    with self.assertRaises(ValueError): Tensor.full((2, -3, 0), 4)
 
   def test_negative_dims_eye(self):
-    with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError): Tensor.eye(-3, 3)
-    with self.assertRaises(AssertionError): Tensor.eye(3, -3)
-    with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError): Tensor.eye(-3, -3)
+    with self.assertRaises(ValueError): Tensor.eye(-3, 3)
+    with self.assertRaises(ValueError): Tensor.eye(3, -3)
+    with self.assertRaises(ValueError): Tensor.eye(-3, -3)
 
   def test_negative_dims_kaiming(self):
     creation_methods = [Tensor.kaiming_uniform, Tensor.kaiming_normal]
     for method in creation_methods:
-      with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError): method(-3, 3)
+      with self.assertRaises(ValueError): method(-3, 3)
       with self.assertRaises(ValueError): method((-3, 3), 3)
       with self.assertRaises(ValueError): method((-3, -3), 3)
 
diff --git a/tinygrad/shape/view.py b/tinygrad/shape/view.py
index 4e88c14556..97996b5e72 100644
--- a/tinygrad/shape/view.py
+++ b/tinygrad/shape/view.py
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ class View:
   @staticmethod
   @functools.lru_cache(maxsize=None)
   def create(shape:Tuple[sint, ...], strides:Optional[Tuple[sint, ...]]=None, offset:sint=0, mask:Optional[Tuple[Tuple[sint, sint], ...]]=None):
-    if not all(s >= 0 for s in shape): raise RuntimeError(f"Trying to create View with negative dimension: {shape=}")
+    if not all(s >= 0 for s in shape): raise ValueError(f"Trying to create View with negative dimension: {shape=}")
     strides = canonicalize_strides(shape, strides) if strides else strides_for_shape(shape)
     # canonicalize 0 in shape
     if 0 in shape: return View(shape, (0,) * len(shape), offset=0, mask=None, contiguous=True)
diff --git a/tinygrad/tensor.py b/tinygrad/tensor.py
index 03468396a9..bab94eefa2 100644
--- a/tinygrad/tensor.py
+++ b/tinygrad/tensor.py
@@ -525,6 +525,7 @@ class Tensor:
     print(Tensor.eye(2, 4).numpy())
     ```
     """
+    if n < 0 or (m is not None and m < 0): raise ValueError(f"cannot have negative {n=}, {m=}")
     return Tensor.ones((n,1),**kwargs).pad((None,(0,n))).flatten().shrink(((0,n*n),)).reshape(n,n)._slice((None,(0,n if m is None else m)))
 
   def full_like(self, fill_value:ConstType, **kwargs):