diff --git a/benchmarks/benchmarks/bench_linalg.py b/benchmarks/benchmarks/bench_linalg.py
index e3a4be70276e..7f12d86ed347 100644
--- a/benchmarks/benchmarks/bench_linalg.py
+++ b/benchmarks/benchmarks/bench_linalg.py
@@ -103,6 +103,8 @@ def time_norm(self, typename):
 class LinalgSmallArrays(Benchmark):
     """ Test overhead of linalg methods for small arrays """
     def setup(self):
+        self.array_3_3 = np.eye(3) + np.arange(9.).reshape((3, 3))
+        self.array_3 = np.arange(3.)
         self.array_5 = np.arange(5.)
         self.array_5_5 = np.reshape(np.arange(25.), (5, 5))
 
@@ -112,6 +114,16 @@ def time_norm_small_array(self):
     def time_det_small_array(self):
         np.linalg.det(self.array_5_5)
 
+    def time_det_3x3(self):
+        np.linalg.det(self.array_3_3)
+
+    def time_solve_3x3(self):
+        np.linalg.solve(self.array_3_3, self.array_3)
+
+    def time_eig_3x3(self):
+        np.linalg.eig(self.array_3_3)
+
+
 class Lstsq(Benchmark):
     def setup(self):
         self.a = get_squares_()['float64']
diff --git a/numpy/linalg/_linalg.py b/numpy/linalg/_linalg.py
index f5bc524a27ae..e181e1a5d8a8 100644
--- a/numpy/linalg/_linalg.py
+++ b/numpy/linalg/_linalg.py
@@ -197,7 +197,11 @@ def _assert_stacked_2d(*arrays):
 
 def _assert_stacked_square(*arrays):
     for a in arrays:
-        m, n = a.shape[-2:]
+        try:
+            m, n = a.shape[-2:]
+        except ValueError:
+            raise LinAlgError('%d-dimensional array given. Array must be '
+                    'at least two-dimensional' % a.ndim)
         if m != n:
             raise LinAlgError('Last 2 dimensions of the array must be square')
 
@@ -392,7 +396,6 @@ def solve(a, b):
 
     """
     a, _ = _makearray(a)
-    _assert_stacked_2d(a)
     _assert_stacked_square(a)
     b, wrap = _makearray(b)
     t, result_t = _commonType(a, b)
@@ -599,7 +602,6 @@ def inv(a):
 
     """
     a, wrap = _makearray(a)
-    _assert_stacked_2d(a)
     _assert_stacked_square(a)
     t, result_t = _commonType(a)
 
@@ -681,7 +683,6 @@ def matrix_power(a, n):
 
     """
     a = asanyarray(a)
-    _assert_stacked_2d(a)
     _assert_stacked_square(a)
 
     try:
@@ -830,7 +831,6 @@ def cholesky(a, /, *, upper=False):
     """
     gufunc = _umath_linalg.cholesky_up if upper else _umath_linalg.cholesky_lo
     a, wrap = _makearray(a)
-    _assert_stacked_2d(a)
     _assert_stacked_square(a)
     t, result_t = _commonType(a)
     signature = 'D->D' if isComplexType(t) else 'd->d'
@@ -1201,7 +1201,6 @@ def eigvals(a):
 
     """
     a, wrap = _makearray(a)
-    _assert_stacked_2d(a)
     _assert_stacked_square(a)
     _assert_finite(a)
     t, result_t = _commonType(a)
@@ -1310,7 +1309,6 @@ def eigvalsh(a, UPLO='L'):
         gufunc = _umath_linalg.eigvalsh_up
 
     a, wrap = _makearray(a)
-    _assert_stacked_2d(a)
     _assert_stacked_square(a)
     t, result_t = _commonType(a)
     signature = 'D->d' if isComplexType(t) else 'd->d'
@@ -1320,11 +1318,6 @@ def eigvalsh(a, UPLO='L'):
         w = gufunc(a, signature=signature)
     return w.astype(_realType(result_t), copy=False)
 
-def _convertarray(a):
-    t, result_t = _commonType(a)
-    a = a.astype(t).T.copy()
-    return a, t, result_t
-
 
 # Eigenvectors
 
@@ -1461,7 +1454,6 @@ def eig(a):
 
     """
     a, wrap = _makearray(a)
-    _assert_stacked_2d(a)
     _assert_stacked_square(a)
     _assert_finite(a)
     t, result_t = _commonType(a)
@@ -1612,7 +1604,6 @@ def eigh(a, UPLO='L'):
         raise ValueError("UPLO argument must be 'L' or 'U'")
 
     a, wrap = _makearray(a)
-    _assert_stacked_2d(a)
     _assert_stacked_square(a)
     t, result_t = _commonType(a)
 
@@ -1978,7 +1969,6 @@ def cond(x, p=None):
     else:
         # Call inv(x) ignoring errors. The result array will
         # contain nans in the entries where inversion failed.
-        _assert_stacked_2d(x)
         _assert_stacked_square(x)
         t, result_t = _commonType(x)
         signature = 'D->D' if isComplexType(t) else 'd->d'
@@ -2318,7 +2308,6 @@ def slogdet(a):
 
     """
     a = asarray(a)
-    _assert_stacked_2d(a)
     _assert_stacked_square(a)
     t, result_t = _commonType(a)
     real_t = _realType(result_t)
@@ -2377,7 +2366,6 @@ def det(a):
 
     """
     a = asarray(a)
-    _assert_stacked_2d(a)
     _assert_stacked_square(a)
     t, result_t = _commonType(a)
     signature = 'D->D' if isComplexType(t) else 'd->d'