Headless mac stuck on apple logo screen

My late 2017 MacBook Pro screen went black. I assumed the MacBook was coming on since the caps lock light would light up. I tried various reset keys and nothing worked. Local apple repair said screen went out. Went down the headless mac rabbit hole and determined this could work for me with an external monitor. Took the Mac screen off and connected to external screen. I’m assuming mac is coming on as the external screen shows an apple (without a loading bar) and the caps lock light still comes on. I’ve tried various reset keys again and nothing is working. I’ve also tried the command f1 to allow screen mirroring and that didn’t work either. What should I do next? At the very least, I need to access the data and get it backed up or onto another device. How is the best way of going about that or have I already lost the data? Can I still fix the Mac and use it headless? Help!