diff --git a/kernel/riscv64/nrm2_vector.c b/kernel/riscv64/nrm2_vector.c
index 2d07b3ee2..fc349a0b3 100644
--- a/kernel/riscv64/nrm2_vector.c
+++ b/kernel/riscv64/nrm2_vector.c
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ FLOAT CNAME(BLASLONG n, FLOAT *x, BLASLONG inc_x)
         unsigned int stride_x = inc_x * sizeof(FLOAT);
         int idx = 0;
 
-        if( n >= gvl ) // don't pay overheads if we're not doing useful work
+        if( n >= gvl && inc_x > 0) // don't pay overheads if we're not doing useful work
         {
                 for(i=0; i<n/gvl; i++){
                         v0 = VLSEV_FLOAT( &x[idx], stride_x, gvl );
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ FLOAT CNAME(BLASLONG n, FLOAT *x, BLASLONG inc_x)
         //finish any tail using scalar ops
         i*=gvl*inc_x;
         n*=inc_x;
-        while(i< n){
+        while(abs(i)< abs(n)){
                 if ( x[i] != 0.0 ){
                         FLOAT absxi = ABS( x[i] );
                         if ( scale < absxi ){