diff --git a/convert-hf-to-gguf.py b/convert-hf-to-gguf.py
index a6751cc80..166e5ded2 100755
--- a/convert-hf-to-gguf.py
+++ b/convert-hf-to-gguf.py
@@ -967,7 +967,13 @@ class XverseModel(Model):
         from transformers import AutoTokenizer
         tokenizer = AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(dir_model)
         vocab_size = hparams.get("vocab_size", len(tokenizer.vocab))
-        assert max(tokenizer.vocab.values()) < vocab_size
+        # Since we are checking the maximum index, we need to ensure it's strictly less than vocab_size,
+        # because vocab_size is the count of items, and indexes start at 0.
+        max_vocab_index = max(tokenizer.get_vocab().values())
+        if max_vocab_index >= vocab_size:
+            raise ValueError("Vocabulary size exceeds expected maximum size.")
+
+
 
         reverse_vocab: dict[int, str] = {id_: encoded_tok for encoded_tok, id_ in tokenizer.vocab.items()}
         added_vocab = tokenizer.get_added_vocab()