diff --git a/extra/hip_wrapper.py b/extra/hip_wrapper.py
index cc0ccd5230..9084e69818 100644
--- a/extra/hip_wrapper.py
+++ b/extra/hip_wrapper.py
@@ -14,7 +14,16 @@ except:
 
 def hipCheckStatus(status):
   if status != 0:
-    raise RuntimeError('HIP error %s' % status)
+    raise RuntimeError('HIP error %s: %s' % (status, hipGetErrorString(status)))
+
+
+_libhip.hipGetErrorString.restype = ctypes.c_char_p
+_libhip.hipGetErrorString.argtypes = [ctypes.c_int]
+
+
+def hipGetErrorString(status):
+  return _libhip.hipGetErrorString(status).decode('utf-8')
+
 
 _libhip.hipDeviceSynchronize.restype = int
 _libhip.hipDeviceSynchronize.argtypes = []