diff --git a/nodes.py b/nodes.py
index ef51994ef..968f0f9ad 100644
--- a/nodes.py
+++ b/nodes.py
@@ -63,6 +63,8 @@ class CLIPTextEncode(ComfyNodeABC):
     DESCRIPTION = "Encodes a text prompt using a CLIP model into an embedding that can be used to guide the diffusion model towards generating specific images."
 
     def encode(self, clip, text):
+        if clip is None:
+            raise RuntimeError("ERROR: clip input is invalid: None\n\nIf the clip is from a checkpoint loader node your checkpoint does not contain a valid clip or text encoder model.")
         tokens = clip.tokenize(text)
         return (clip.encode_from_tokens_scheduled(tokens), )